D-DAY ANNIVERSARY BLOG TOUR June 3-11, 2019

Welcome to the D-Day 75^thAnniversary Blog Tour! Seven novelists are commemorating the brave men who stormed the beaches of Normandy on
June 6, 1944. Thank you for joining us as we remember their heroism and sacrifice.

Our novels illuminate different aspects of the war—from the landing beaches of Normandy to Nazi-occupied Europe to the US Home Front. Each day, visit with a new author as we share about our stories, our research, and our unique settings. With each blog post, you’ll have the opportunity to win that author’s novel–plus a chance to win a packet of ALL NINE featured novels and a gorgeous signed hardback copy of Everything We Have: D-Day 6.6.44, the new commemorative book from the National World War II Museum!

 

GIVEAWAY DETAILS

For a chance to win ALL TEN books, please visit each blog, collect the answers to ALL SEVEN questions, and enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below or on the BLOG TOUR PAGE. The contest opened June 3, 2019 at 1 am PST and closes June 16, 2019 at 11 pm PST. The winner will be announced on Monday, June 17, 2019. *Note* Several of the titles will not be released until later—these will be mailed after the release dates.

To win the prize of ALL TEN books, you must have collected ALL SEVEN answers. The winner must be prepared to send ALL SEVEN answers within 48 hours of notification by email, or a new winner will be selected.

 

VALERIE FRASER LUESSE, ALMOST HOME

 

With America's entrance into World War II, the town of Blackberry Springs, Alabama, has exploded virtually overnight. Workers from all over are coming south for jobs in Uncle Sam's munition's plants—and they're bringing their pasts with them, right into Dolly Chandler's grand but fading family home turned boardinghouse. A struggling young couple from the Midwest, unemployed professors from Chicago, a widower from Mississippi, and a shattered young veteran struggling to heal from the war are all hoping Dolly's house will help them find their way back to the lives they left behind. But the house has a past of its own. When tragedy strikes, Dolly's only hope will be the circle of friends under her roof and their ability to discover the truth about what happened to a young bride who lived here a century before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHOP BAKER BOOK HOUSE

 

 

A War Story Is A Family Story

Valerie Fraser Luesse

You had to be careful waking him up. That’s what my mother’s older sisters always said about the brother who served on Okinawa. He left Alabama a mischievous farm boy and came home a serious body builder who knew how to handle bombs and clear airstrips. And you had to be careful waking him up.

I always found it strange that, in a storytelling family like ours, Uncle Ferrell never told my cousins and me anything about his war experience. But he did tell his younger brother that there were nights when so many bombs fell on Okinawa that he thought the whole island would surely sink into the Pacific.

Many years after he died, I started researching World War II, not because I had plans for a novel but because I felt I owed it to Uncle Ferrell to try and understand what he went through. Not that I ever could. (That's him, in uniform, posing with his father shortly before he left for the Pacific.)

Eventually, I stumbled onto the writings of a fellow Alabamian, the late Eugene B. Sledge. His book With the Old Breed at Peleliu and Okinawa—written from notes he scribbled in the margins of a small New Testament he carried throughout the war—got me as close as I’ll ever come to the horrors of combat.

My book Almost Home—like much of my writing—began with my own family, with childhood afternoons spent listening to the adults tell stories of way-back-when. Storytelling was our entertainment of choice in a time and place without cell phones, cable TV, or Wifi.

Central to Almost Home is Dolly and Si Chandler’s family manse-turned boarding house, which was inspired by my maternal grandmother’s homeplace in rural Alabama. Her brother and his wife really did turn it into a boarding house during the war, as people from all over the country moved South to find work in the munitions plants and shipyards springing up down here. And my great-uncle really did build a skating rink and manmade lake right across from the grand old house. (That's the house pictured below. My grandmother is the dark-haired girl in the back.)

I’ve grown up hearing so many stories about the war years. My aunt showed me some old ration coupons she had held onto. My dad told me about collecting scraps of aluminum foil because if you collected enough to make a sizable ball, the movie theaters in Birmingham would let you in without a ticket.

While I’m intrigued with the great battles of the war, I’m equally fascinated with the small ones—the personal ones—as ordinary people grappled with the daily challenges of just making it through. I wanted to explore whether you really can come back home when life has taken you so far afield that you feel alienated from those you love—maybe even from yourself, maybe even from your faith. And I wanted to discover whether two wounded people like veteran Reed Ingram and young war widow Daisy Dupree might find the courage and the love to heal each other—whether they might, in the end, show each other the way home.

 

• GIVEAWAY QUESTION •

What two things did Si Chandler build across from the grand old house where he and Dolly live?
(Jot down the question or enter your answers in Rafflecopter right away.)

 

• RAFFLECOPTER GIVEAWAY •

To enter the Rafflecopter Giveaway below, enter your name and email address (we need these to notify the winner). Then select an author’s name and enter the answer to that author’s question. You only need to enter the Rafflecopter once to be entered in the giveaway, but you can earn up to seven entries by answering all seven questions in the Rafflecopter. But don’t forget…to win, you must have collected ALL SEVEN answers. You can enter the Rafflecopter each day, or you can enter all your answers at once any time before June 16, 2019 at 11 pm PST. US mailing addresses only, please.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

SCHEDULE FOR THE D-DAY 75TH ANNIVERSARY BLOG TOUR 

Be sure to visit each site for a chance to win ALL NINE featured novels, plus the commemorative D-day book!

Note:Links will go live on the post date.

June 3: AMANDA DYKES, author of Whose Waves These Are

June 4: CATHY GOHLKE, author of The Medallion

June 5: LIZ TOLSMA, author of When the Heart Sings

June 6: SARAH SUNDIN, author of the Sunrise at Normandy series: The Sea Before Us, The Sky Above Us, and The Land Beneath Us

June 7: AMANDA BARRATT, author of My Dearest Dietrich

June 10: VALERIE LUESSE, author of Almost Home

June 11: MELANIE DOBSON [URL], author of Memories of Glass

 

Valerie Fraser Luesse is the bestselling author of Missing Isaac, winner of a 2018 Christy Award for first novel. A career magazine writer, she is best known for her feature stories and essays in Southern Living magazine, where she is senior travel editor. Luesse is a graduate of Auburn University and Baylor University. She and her husband, Dave, live in Birmingham, Alabama, where she writes in her beloved Story Shack. (Author portrait by Mark Sandlin.)

For a chance to win a FREE COPY of Almost Home, visit Valerie at valeriefraserluesse.com and subscribe to her newsletter. You can also connect with her at facebook.com/valeriefraserluessebooks.

 

 

 

Comments

[Cathy Gohlke]

I'm so looking forward to reading your book, Valerie! I love stories about who endured hard things, the relationships they built, and all things Southern! Thank you for sharing your memories and your post. You have been so blessed to have a storytelling family!

[Carol Alscheff]

I subscribed. The book sounds very interesting.

[valerieluesse]

Thank you so much, Cathy! And thanks to the blog tour, I have big "must read" list from y'all! Love these stories you're telling.

[valerieluesse]

Thank you for subscribing, Carol!

[Violetta Davis]

This sounds like a wonderful book. I hope to read it soon.

[valerieluesse]

Thank you so much, Violetta! I hope you enjoy it.

[Lual Krautter]

To answer Valerie Luesse's question: Si Chandler built two things across from the grand old house: a skating rink and a man-made lake. Thanks for the opportunity to enter a wonderful giveaway! Would love to win print books! Lual Krautter, 712 Carter St., Deer Lodge, MT 59722 [email protected]

[Elizabeth R]

As a fellow Alabamian I'm very interested in the state's history during WWII. Most of the books written during this time period are set in Europe so this will be an interesting read. Reading a book set in your home always feels like a more personal experience.

[Alison Boss]

I have signed up for your newsletter. Thank you for the chance to win a copy of Almost Home! It sounds very good!!

[Sabrina Templin]

Hi Valerie!
I signed up for your newsletter! :D

[valerieluesse]

Hi, Lual! Please make sure you answer the questions in the Rafflecopter that's included in all the blog posts so we can make sure your answers get counted. And thank you so much for participating!

[valerieluesse]

Thanks so much for signing up, Alison and Sabrina! And hi there to fellow Alabamian Elizabeth! I hope you enjoy the story and that it rings true to you.

[Brenda Witt]

Hi Lual,
I subscribed to your newsletter
And also entered the Rafflecopter

[Lelia (Lucy) Reynolds]

I subscribed to your newsletter. Would love to read this. Thank you for the chance.

[Lisa Hudson]

I subscribed to your newsletter & blog. This book sounds fantastic! Being a MS Girl, this certainly sounds like HOME to me! When I was growing up, I loved nothing more than when my Uncle & Aunt from Mobile came to town to see us. I would always beg them to tell their “old timey” stories. My Daddy was the oldest & my Uncle was the 2nd of 8 children. They were more alike than any of the others. Daddy just turned 94 on 06/03 & my Aunt is probably 87 or so. (Mom & my Uncle have stepped into the arms of Jesus.) When we all get to visit, we, along with the generations following, still love to hear & laugh at their beautiful stories!

[Perrianne Askew]

I subscribed to your newsletter and am truly looking forward to reading your book.

[valerieluesse]

Thanks so much, Perrianne!

[valerieluesse]

Great to hear from you, Lisa! There's a Mississippi man in my book. His name is Joe Dolphus, and he has that wry MS wit that I love so much. My husband and I traveled the Delta together and hope to retire in Ocean Springs. Let me know what you think!

[valerieluesse]

Thank you, Lucy!

[valerieluesse]

Thanks so much, Brenda!

[Jessica Alvarado]

This is very intriguing, what an awesome family history you have. I subscribed, thank you for the opportunity 💕.