A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

“How much of you is in this story?”

I hear that question a lot. Truth is, there’s a little bit of the author in every novel. But it’s not always our story. Ideas often come from the moments in our lives. They also come from the moments in the lives of others.

We cannot help it. We hear something —we novelists —and suddenly a story forms. The words what if somehow get mingled in with that little tidbit of story, and away we go. And so it was, many years ago, when an older couple who lived next door to my husband and me invited us in for Christmas cookies and tea. As they showed us around their warm and lovely home, I happened to notice a Purple Heart, framed in a shadow box. I asked about it, and . . . well, I got a story. A few years later, I heard another WWII story —this one from my great-aunt, who told me she married my great-uncle shortly after he enlisted in the war and, thinking he’d be home soon, set about to make a life for the two of them. But his return didn’t happen for four years. I couldn’t imagine marrying my one true love only to have him leave for war and not return until four years later.

Years before hearing these two stories, when I was about ten years old, I sat in a Sunday school class and listened intently as my teacher said, “You can’t choose whom you fall in love with, but you can choose whom you marry.” Now, I have no idea what that had to do with the lesson (maybe that week’s lesson was on Solomon . . .), but the wisdom (pardon the pun) of those words never left me.

So it was that when the idea for this book came to me (ironically, the title came to me first), the World War II stories folded in with the wisdom of my Sunday school teacher, and . . . I had a story. Or at least the bones of one.

I read dozens of books and watched lots of memoir-inspired videos on World War II, and I learned something significant: there’s a reason that generation was called “the greatest.” As I developed the story line and dug into the characters, I was also reminded that God has a plan for each of us, and if we trust him (and listen to him) with that plan within the days and minutes and seconds of our lives, he will never lead us down the wrong path. Or to the wrong love.

With that in mind, I sincerely hope you enjoyed the somewhat-true story of The One True Love of Alice-Ann. And I hope you’ll let me know what you think by visiting me at my website: www.EvaMarieEversonAuthor.com.

Eva Marie Everson