World War II is my favorite era about which to read and write. What I find most fascinating about the time period are the stories about ordinary people doing extraordinary things, especially women, who until this time, had been provided for and protected.

A woman was typically insulated from difficulties or frightening things, and her husband or father took care of just about everything. When the war took millions of men away, the women had to learn how to take care of themselves in addition to filling the job vacancies.

Yes, there were Rosie the Riveters: women who worked in the factories building weapons, ships, vehicles and all kinds of war materiel, but there were also Land Army girls, many of whom didn’t know how to drive, who learned to operate all kinds of farm equipment so they could bring in crops to feed our nation as well as our Allies. Others donned uniforms to serve in the WACS, WAVES, SPARS, WASPS, Marines, Army Nurse Corp, and Navy Nurse Corp. Millions boosted morale through the USO and Red Cross or served in myriad ways with Civil Defense. Some went overseas to cover the war as journalists. A few even signed on as spies.

The driving force with most of these women was the realization that their country needed them. They put their own needs and desires aside to help win a war they didn’t ask to be part of. And many did it while single-handedly running the household because their husband was somewhere across the globe – ordinary women doing extraordinary things.

My latest release, Murder of Convenience, explores themes of service and sacrifice intertwined with the question of how to respond when God says no. It is my hope that the novel honors the women who lived during WWII in some small way.