Each of us brings special gifts to the world around us. Sometimes they are easy to see, other times they appear “odd” to others. Our uniqueness is part of God’s perfectly woven tapestry, and can always be trusted. I hope Ida and Daniel’s story has helped you see what particular gifts you bring to the world around you. If you haven’t yet read Homefront Hero (Love Inspired Historical, May 2012), you can go back and discover how Ida and Leanne became friends and read Leanne and John’s dramatic love story.
The Charleston Orphan House was a much larger institution than my fictitious Parker Home for Orphans, but straining from the same dire need presented by what the Great War had done to children and families. The plunge baths were actually a part of the Charleston Orphan House, odd as it may sound. Children were indeed indentured into communities—often with frightening results. The Aunties are based on real women who became pen pals with Charleston Orphan House children—but the sock knitting is of my own devising. As for treatment philosophies, conventional wisdom at the time was just coming around to the shift from an institutional atmosphere to something known as the “cottage plan”—a change depicted by Ida’s sensibilities in this book. Tight finances and scarce resources, however, were true realities at both orphanages in Charleston—the Charleston Orphan House for white children and the Jenkins Orphanage for black children (still in existence today as the Jenkins Institute). Both institutions enjoyed broad public support and donations, but always the need outpaced charitable giving. Many orphans went on to live long, happy lives with close relationships to fellow students serving as stand-in “relations.” Proof that a family is indeed where you find love, genetics notwithstanding.
I love to hear from readers—knitters and nonknitters alike—so please visit my website at www.alliepleiter.com, email me at allie@alliepleiter.com, stop by my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/alliepleiter or write me at PO Box 7026 Villa Park, IL 60181. I’m eager to hear from you!
Warmly,
Allie Pleiter