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Royal Roots

Reimagining a Life through Humor, a Castle, and the US Navy

A decades long family mystery is solved and the powerful magic of wishful thinking proves triumphant. A delicate balance of the sidekick of comedy, alongside tragedy, finds its synchronous rhythm in Royal Roots. 

By Patricia Wynn Brown

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Searching for Humor
in Between the Cracks of Despair

Hopes and dreams spring to life with the booming tract housing and shiny new refrigerators in post-WWII America. However, many service members’ families continued to suffer in a never-ending, unacknowledged war.

Patricia Wynn Brown, “the Mouthy One” in her middle American family, is hell-bent on overcoming the hardships of her chaotic family life. She battles family shame brought on by her veteran Dad’s bizarre behaviors and unexpected absences for hospitalizations while also figuring out how to mail a letter to her favorite Beatle (Paul).

When her father’s headline-grabbing death in 1980 eventually hits her, she is forced to reassess her life. A visit to a Welsh castle bolsters her courage to search for the truth behind her father’s actions, which leads to stunning disclosures. The US Navy helps transform shame into understanding and love. This uplifting journey’s revelatory lessons apply to anyone who is reassembling the fragments of a shattered life.

In Royal Roots, Reimagining a Life through Humor, a Castle, and the US Navy, Brown tells her story with wit, faith, and an unflinching gaze. It is a humorous yet poignant exploration of how PTSD can impact a family, interwoven with a vivid portrayal of the popular culture and watershed events of the 1950s to 1970s.

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About the Author
Author Patricia Wynn Brown

A donation of $1 from every ROYAL ROOTS book sold will go to programming at the National Veterans Memorial and Museum, located in Columbus, Ohio. Patricia Wynn Brown’s new memoir, Royal Roots, and the museum, both emphasize the healing power of a person’s story.

What the Readers
Are Saying

You are a light in the dark world and you offer encouragement to those who desperately need it.
Wanda Dawson
Reader
From the experience growing up with a mentally disabled father, her Catholic faith and education, to marriage and motherhood, Patricia Wynn Brown writes with searing honesty. Her breakthrough compassion and understanding of her father’s life is affirming.
Amazon Reviewer Jane
Royal Roots is a compelling memoir that explores generations of familial trauma in the most hysterically comical way. It is about falling apart and coming back together again all while told with natural charm, wit, and eloquence. It is somehow both tragic and hilarious all within one book.
Amazon Reviewer Chelsea
It’s a treasure … I took my time reading it. This is a meal best enjoyed bite by savory bite.
Christopher Buckley
Humorist and author of Thank You for Smoking
How many of us are willing to consider that the people who cause pain in our lives might also be suffering themselves, maybe wrestling with forces they cannot control? In this compelling memoir, Patricia Wynn Brown searches for the truth behind her father’s decades of erratic and sometimes abusive behavior and the mysteries that led to his freakish death. As we travel with her from the Catholic schools of central Ohio to a castle in Wales and on the world’s largest naval base, we come to understand her father better, and begin to forgive. It’s a story of determination and grit, of discovery and acceptance, beautifully told with humor and grace. I highly recommend it.
Amazon Reviewer RCSColumbus
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Royal Roots Photo Gallery

The book Royal Roots contains 169 pictures that help support the narrative. Here are a few of them.
Click on them for the description.
In the neighborhood with mom and dead frogs
Patricia, First Communion, St. Agnes Church
Steve Brown, The Knight in Shining Armor
Naval Station Norfolk: "The Explosion"
Patricia and Commander Capt. Janet Days and Commander Coin of Merit
Brothers Don and Richard home from war
Grandpa Robert E. Wynn, eventual chief of police
Gwydir Castle, Wales. Photo credit: Judy Corbett
The Wynn Family
The crest of the Wynn's of Gwydir, Wales

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