I am sometimes asked why I write
historical fiction. I usually answer that I find so many stories in history.
Many times, reading about historical events will get my creative juices flowing
when I think about the lives and stories of people who lived during these
times.
For instance, Resurrection of Hope, my novella that has just been released, the
historical backdrop of the time helped me create the characters and the events
in the story.
At the beginning of the story,
Vivian is depressed. In the last year, her fiancé died in the Great War (World
War I), her family died of influenza, and she was evicted from her family farm
because of gambling debts of her alcohol father. This would be enough to
depress anyone, but many post WWI families were going through the same turmoil
during 1919.
The Great War had just ended, and
many men had died in Europe . At the same time,
over twenty million people had died from the great influenza pandemic. There were
very few families that hadn’t suffered loss from one of these events. Some
families were completely wiped out. Another tragedy of the period was the rise
of alcoholism and gambling addiction during the early years of the 20th
century. A number of men lost everything and left their families destitute.
That was one of the major reasons for prohibition.
Henry, the male main character in
the story, had been a doughboy in World War I. He had just returned from the
war with all the baggage that came with fighting warfare in the trenches. Many
of the problems he had with Vivian stemmed from his experiences fighting and
losing his best friend in the war. The stoic tough guy image most men tried to
live up to during that period of time made things worse.
Another event I used in Resurrection
of Hope was a tornado. In 1920 on Palm Sunday, one of the deadliest tornado
outbreaks in history swept across the Midwest .
People in Indiana and Western
Ohio were most affected.
Every story I write starts with
reading about the events in history and imagining people’s lives during that
time. I’ve read historical fiction that could have taken place in any time
period, but the writer loses an opportunity to make the stories of history come
alive. Every good historical uses history, not just as a setting, but as a main
character in the story.
Blurb:
Resurrection
of Hope
After Vivian’s fiancé dies in the Great War, she thinks her life is over. But Henry, her fiancé’s best friend, comes to the rescue offering a marriage of convenience. He claims he promised his friend he would take care of her. She grows to love him, but she knows it will never work because he never shows any love for her.
Henry adores Vivian and has pledged to take care of her, but he won’t risk their friendship by letting her know. She’s still in love with the man who died in the Great War. He won’t risk heartache by revealing his true emotions.
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