In childhood, Margaret Rose Moore—the little girl born to Irish immigrant parents in Brooklyn—was nicknamed Maggie, or “Milly-meggy,” for her restless and cheerful nature. But life didn’t spare Maggie: at sixteen, trouble came knocking, and she had to quit school and devote herself entirely to the home, her father, and her newborn brother. When Maggie finally met Claude, the love of her life, he turned out to be nothing like the kind of man you can simply become happy with. However, Maggie the little miss always found strength in being useful to others, so like a sturdy reed in the wind, she will never surrender to the blows of fate.