Judges’ Comments
Mary Pat Fennessey is a study in grief and desperation, yet she’s no victim. Rather, her quest for justice and willingness to burn everything to the ground in its pursuit make her larger than life. The backdrop of racial tensions (the story is set amidst the 1974 Boston desegregation bussing crisis) is as important today as it was fifty years ago, and the stories of the people involved are told with a nuance that one doesn’t see often enough. A masterpiece.