Clodagh Finn: The ‘modern Cinderella’ who made her mark behind Iron Curtain

Whatever happened to this young woman who stepped into a fairytale story all those decades ago?

Maura Wallace made a lasting impression on the medical community in Bialystok in Poland where she taught doctors English and translated their medical papers.

 It seemed like a dream come true, just as the newspapers reported. In January 1949, Maura Wallace, a 17-year-old waitress from Sixmilebridge in Co Clare, left the Irish winter behind to take up a job as nanny to a “sun-seeking, globetrotting millionaire family” on their round-the-world tour.

First stop, New York, where her new employers promised her a “complete wardrobe of new American clothes and finery”. Then it was on to Miami, Florida, for the spring.