The Rotary Club of Concord is a little-known organization to many people despite it working in the community since 1947.
In a group of very skilled and knowledgeable people, Dr. Michael Barrington is unusual not because he is the Past President of the Rotary Club of Concord, but for his hidden talents that have especially emerged during the past few years.
Dr. Barrington is a Concord writer, and his books reflect the international aspects of his life and work for Rotary International.
Barrington’s novels draw from his international experience. He was born and lived in England through his teen years, moved to France, spent ten years in West Africa during a civil war, spent a year living as a hermit in Northern Ireland, spent a year teaching in Spain, and four years teaching in Puerto Rico before settling in Concord.
As the owner and President of MJB Consultants, he flies all over the world monitoring humanitarian projects in more than 30 countries.
Barrington’s first book, “The Bishop Wears No Drawers” focuses on the ten years he spent in West Africa as a catholic missionary priest, three of them during a civil war when he was stood up to be shot.
In 2019 he published “Let the Peacock Sing” a cliff hanging novel about the French Resistance in World War II. Having lived and studied in France, he knew intimately many of the places he writes about. His father-in-law fought for five years in the Resistance.
In 2020 “Becoming Anya” was published, the story of how a young woman from a remote Irish village becomes a nun, falls in love and finding that the world has left her behind, struggles to find her true self. She grapples with adversity including the tragic loss of her husband at an early age. She experiences the hardship of raising two children during war time and being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous lover. But with family support and determination, she finally achieves her fulfillment as both a woman and a professional nurse.
In his latest novel, “The Ethiopian Affair,” Barrington is writing a very modern, riveting spy story filled with action and suspense. Is there really a plot to abduct and hold to ransom the US ambassador to Ethiopia? Its international investigation takes us through Somalia, the Sudan, Kenya, Honduras and England. The book will be published in early March 2022.
In addition to writing complete novels, he writes fiction and non-fiction articles which have appeared in numerous periodicals and magazines both in the USA and UK. He also blogs on his website: www.mbwriter.net.
The Rotary Club of Concord is a service club whose sole purpose is to assist people in need, both domestically and internationally, and is open to all adult women and men. Even with the restrictions and limitations imposed during the pandemic, you may have seen Rotarians wearing shirts and jackets with the distinctive blue and gold Rotary ‘Wheel” logo, (actually, it is a “gear” symbol) volunteering at the Food Bank, working at the Salvation Army, delivering Thanksgiving Boxes to the Monument Crisis Center or working with the mayor in the beatification and tree planting at several city parks.