Brunswick church to host authors discussing family war memoir

Jack Montgomery and Barbara Kent Lawrence will bring a wartime family memoir to the United Unitarian Church of Brunswick on Wednesday, July 8, at 6 p.m., giving Sagadahoc County readers a local chance to hear a story that moves from Britain to Maine. The program centers on Both Sides of the Pond - My Family’s War: 1933-1946, a book that reaches beyond a standard reading and into family history, memory and the links between the two sides of the Atlantic.

The conversation follows the book’s path through Barbara Greene’s life and her brother Kent’s wartime service. Greene met Joe Kennedy Jr. in January 1939, later emigrated to the United States and learned to fly. Kent’s story runs through the retreat from Dunkirk and later service in North Africa, Sicily and Burma, giving the discussion a broad World War II frame that should resonate with readers interested in how private experience intersects with large public events.

The Brunswick stop also keeps the event close to the community it is meant to serve. The church at 1 Middle Street offers an in-town setting that is easy to reach for readers who want an evening out without driving to a larger commercial venue, and the Unitarian Universalist Association lists the building as wheelchair accessible. For local residents who follow Maine authors, family genealogies or military history, the setting makes the talk feel less like a book promotion than a shared civic gathering.

Lawrence’s own background adds another layer to the appearance. Her website says Both Sides of the Pond was published by Sweet Fern Press, and other listings place its release on Sept. 15, 2025. The print edition is listed at 476 pages. Lawrence’s academic record includes Bennington College, New York University and Boston University, and her teaching career included work in Washington, D.C., Connecticut and Maine, along with appointments at Boston University, Northeastern University and Lesley University from 2000 to 2010.

The Brunswick event fits into a broader Maine run of appearances for Lawrence in 2026, including talks at Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor on May 7 and Camden Public Library on June 11. That schedule points to a book with a strong regional audience, especially among readers drawn to place, lineage and the kind of family narrative that turns a memoir into a wider history.