My motivation for writing LEGACY AT LIBERTY LAKE, was to share some of the stories that my parents often told to me about growing up Italian in a small town in upstate New York. Although a work of fiction, some of the incidents were inspired by true events. My goal was to capture the essence of the setting as the family struggled through the difficult times of the “Great Depression.”

 

After publishing HARBOR BLUES, I considered the topic of my next book and decided that I enjoyed the characters in LEGACY AT LIBERTY LAKE so much, that I wondered how they would meet the challenge of living through World War Two. Again, I relied on my parents’ stories for local color, but I soon realized that wouldn’t be enough.

 

Although I’ve heard, read, and watched movies about the war ever since childhood, I set out to learn more details of its causes and effects. It required an enormous amount of research. America’s part in World War Two lasted for nearly four years, from December of 1941 to August of 1945.

 

A lot happened in those four years. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the country went from a nation which had finally emerged from a devastating depression to a world superpower of citizens hell-bent on fighting the Nazi and Japanese regimes to retain our freedom at all costs. Building a strong military force was essential, but ultimately not the only tool in winning the war.

 

Uniting the civilian population for the common cause of defeating Hitler, Mussolini, and Hirohito was essential. As a result, the U.S. government set out to mobilize civilians from all walks of life to “do their part for the war effort.” THE LEGACY SOARS! is about one family’s contribution to the war effort.

 

                                                     Cheryl

 

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT WORLD WAR TWO, please visit,

https://www.nationalww2museum.org

 

 

One of the various jobs that I held before earning my college degrees came about when my future husband joined the Los Angeles Police Department. It prompted me to take the job of clerk-typist at the Department’s Records and Identification Division, and later, at their Harbor Division station in San Pedro, CA. 

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While my husband attended the police academy, the department held a meeting for the families of the recruits. That’s when I learned that 75% of police marriages end in divorce. (Unfortunately, that percentage seems to have proven true among our police friends who are on their 2nd and 3rd marriages.)

 

I was only with the department for about 3 years, but it was an invaluable experience in many ways. It certainly provided source material for HARBOR BLUES. But more than that, I believe that my time on the job was instrumental in giving my husband and myself a common bond through-out our long marriage.

 

I'm not sure I would’ve been able to deal with the adversities that police spouses have to endure if I hadn’t worked in the Harbor Division Record Unit.

                                                                 Cheryl