Submitted Photo Jill Krzyzanowicz will be speaking to the Shorewood Book Club on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Since 2019, the Shorewood Book Club has featured one author with local ties for a signing and book presentation at Shorewood Country Club. This year, the club will feature Jill Krzyzanowicz, who is also known by her pen name, Margo Reilly. Krzyzanowicz will be presenting her book, “When the Apple Falls Far from the Tree,” and Sue Ketcham, who leads the club, said that after reading the book herself, she felt it would be good for discussion at large.

“The book was given to me by a friend of hers, and I read it, I said well she’s local and we’ve had a local author for the last several years and we wanted to do this for Jill,” said Ketcham.

Krzyzanowicz is a teacher in the Dunkirk City School District, and in the book, shares her experiences and how she overcame many challenges in her life. Ketcham said one of the things that drew her to the book was because of how Krzyzanowicz turned out, in spite of those challenges she faced.

“It was written as a result of needing catharsis for a difficult childhood,” said Ketcham. “She had a very serious case of cancer and survived that only to have issues with addiction following surgery. She had to battle a lot of different things, and she could have taken one of two paths.

Had she gone the same way she had growing up, no one would have been the wiser but she went the other way, survived and came out a better person.”

The book club presentations began in 2019 with author Karen Wielinski, who spoke about her experience as a wife that lost her husband when Flight 3407 crashed into her Clarence home in 2009. Wielinski wrote the book “One on the Ground” about the event, and that presentation drew a good crowd that year, with Ketcham saying people came from Jamestown to Buffalo to attend. During the pandemic, Zoom presentations were held, but now the presentations are back in person at Shorewood Country Club. While the first one got a strong turnout, Ketcham said she’s not sure what to expect from this year’s iteration or future ones, though she is optimistic for similar turnouts.

“The first one had a lot of media recognition for that book, while other ones will be more local people,” said Ketcham. “We’re taking reservations so we have an idea of how much food we need. We’re not sure what’ll happen but we’re hoping for good turnout and a lot of support for Jill’s story.”

Krzyzanowicz’s presentation will be at Shorewood Country Club on Sept. 27 at 6:30 p.m., and reservations are appreciated. All are welcome, and light snacks will be available with a cash bar. The presentation will last around 45 minutes, followed by a 15 minute question and answer period, as well as a meet and greet.

The book club is a function of the Shorewood Woman’s Association. In addition to Wielinski’s and Krzyzanowicz’s books, there have also been presentations for “Catbird: The Ballad of Barbi Prim” by Barbara Ostfield and “Dark Riddle” by Deborah Madar.

Krzyzanowicz’s book can be purchased on Kindle or at Circle of Light on Main Street in Fredonia. Krzyzanowicz is also in charge of the blog site just being Jill.com and has completed a life coach course in hopes of assisting others with their own transformational journeys.