UUCB to host 2 Maine authors who wrote about WWII

Maine authors Jack Montgomery and Barbara Kent Lawrence tell stories of people who lived through the darkening time of World War II. They will introduce their books, discuss ways in which their work weaves together and answer questions from the audience during a talk at 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 8, at the United Unitarian Church of Brunswick, 1 Middle St., Brunswick. This event is free and open to the public. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/Holocaust-to-Maine-PR.jpg) The cover of “From the Holocaust to Maine: Testimonies of the Survivors” by Jack Montgomery. (Courtesy photo) Montgomery’s beautifully illustrated new book, “From the Holocaust to Maine: Testimonies of the Survivors,” brings to light the lives of Holocaust survivors who rebuilt their lives in Maine. Most of these 21 remarkable people were children during the dark years of fascism in Germany and elsewhere in Europe, making their stories deeply poignant and memorable. Montgomery is a photographer based in Freeport. He has been making images since the early 1990s. His subjects have ranged widely. He has photographed Holocaust survivors, New York firefighters after 9/11, transgender youth, judges, villagers in the Dominican Republic, and dancers in Portland and Sienna, Italy, among others. He has also completed several landscape and architectural series, focused primarily on Maine but also Italy (mainland and Sicily) and Japan. His recent photography focuses on landscape and cityscape in the context of its totalitarian past, including Rome, Tuscany and Berlin. [](https://w2pcms.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/07/TR-cover-of-Both-Sides-of-the-Pond-070326.jpeg) The cover of “Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War: 1933–1946” by Barbara Kent Lawrence. (Courtesy photo) Lawrence’s book, “Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War: 1933–1946,” is a vivid, emotionally charged story of resilience, romance and the true cost of war. In January 1939, when the author’s mother, Barbara Greene, a beautiful young British actress, met Joe Kennedy Jr., son of the American ambassador, she could not have expected that their relationship would lead to her emigrating from the U.K. to the United States and learning to pilot a plane. Neither could her brother, Kent, have foreseen his bitter retreat from Dunkirk when he left England in January 1940 to fight in France, or his subsequent service on the frontlines in Cornwall, North Africa, Sicily and Burma. Lawrence came to Maine as a summer kid in 1948 and graduated to being a “year-round summer person,” when she moved to Mount Desert Island in 1979. As a professor, she taught courses in anthropology and sociology, research, and writing nonfiction and memoir. Prior to that, Lawrence worked for the Department of Social Services and the Housing Development Administration in New York, directed a small museum in Maine, co-ran a brokerage and construction company, consulted for the Rural School and Community Trust and KnowledgeWorks, and started four nonprofit organizations supporting the environment and students. [](https://www.bowdoin.edu/?utm_source=TimesRecord&utm_medium=SupportingSponsorship) **The Times Record Sustaining Sponsor **We believe a community must be informed to thrive. [**bowdoin.edu**](https://www.bowdoin.edu/?utm_source=TimesRecord&utm_medium=SupportingSponsorship) Copy the Story Link Tagged: [Maine authors](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/maine-authors/), [Times Record](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/times-record/), [Times Record Community](https://www.pressherald.com/tag/times-record-community/)