The authors of historical fiction as well as other Christian Fiction genres receive wonderful emails from their readers. As many of you know, Diane Moody is my sister. She is a Christian Fiction author and member of the Church Librarians Network. Last week she received an unexpected email from one of her readers who grew up in Holland during WWII, same as one of the main characters in Of Windmills & War (Book 1 in The War Series). The novel includes the story of Operation Chowhound, the Allied food drops over Holland near the end of the war. Enjoy this email:
I want to thank you for writing this book. I was a little girl in Haarlem Holland and witnessed the planes that dropped our first taste of food in 5 yrs! My father took me to the attic to witness those huge planes flying over our house! I was scared to death because planes flying over in my mind meant to go hide because bombs would follow. After throwing a fit and crying my eyes out my father convinced me to take a look. And wow! Big packs of something were being
dropped. My father retrieved one of them and it was full of square cans of crackers! That was to get us used to having food on our stomachs. I can still cry when I think of those days!
Soon American soldiers were everywhere. In fact, my very first taste of chocolate came from an American soldier. My father was in the resistance during the war with a lot of his friends.They were in the Army together which fell apart when the Germans invaded Holland. He was seldom home during those times because Germans were always looking for him. He was caught one time, but managed to escape when he was being transported to the trains. It was an awful time which I will never forget.
I have told my story many times, but people just don't grasp the awful times we went through.So I am so happy that you wrote this book. Maybe the readers will understand what WWII was like. My family immigrated to the USA in 1957. At age 16 that was another crisis in my life since I did not speak English. I had no friends, but that is a whole other story! Again thank you so much for letting people know how it was in Holland during WWII. Let us Never Forget!
What experiences have you had with historical fiction through your church libraries? If you are a Christian Fiction author, share with us what our emails to you mean to you and your writing.
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