On December 7th, 1955, Kitty McInerney lay dying in a New York hospital bed. The forty-seven year-old Irish immigrant, suffering from severe toxemia, was preparing for an emergency c-section to give birth to her 17th child. As a Catholic priest performed her last rites, Kitty succumbed to a rare moment of quiet reflection. While her thoughts centered on the fate of her many young children, Kitty found no solace in contemplating her improbable tale of survival... her impoverished youth in rural Ireland, her courageous journey from a small Irish village to the largest city in the world, and her tireless devotion to an ever-expanding family amidst impossible hardships in the impoverished South Bronx. Nor did Kitty realize how her modest life rode a wave of social and political transformation that would come to define modern America. Poor, burdened, and uncelebrated, Kitty McInerney is remarkable for her unrelenting faith, her unique, individual struggle and for exemplifying the American immigrant experience.