Today’s guest is Elaine Faber, the California writer who generally has a 
cat as the chief sleuth. She departs from that to bring us a story centered around World War II in her latest novel, Mrs. Odboddy – Hometown Patriot. (Of course, there’s a cat in it.) Elaine is a member of Sisters in Crime, Inspire Christian Writers, and Cat Writers Association. She will give a free copy of this book to one person who leaves a comment. Heeeerrrree’s Elaine.
While researching California WWII events, the following events became an integral part of the plotline for Mrs. Odboddy – Hometown Patriot.
Rationing: The government convinced the Americans public that giving up their precious food, clothing, tires, and other goods was not only necessary to win the war, but was patriotic.
During part of 1942-43, coffee was rationed; one pound every six weeks per adult. This was due to Brazil’s blockade of ships bringing coffee to the United States, as well as the need to send much of the limited supply to the troops.
A citizen could purchase only five tires during the entire war. This sounds like plenty by today’s standards, but neither roads nor tires were as good in 1942 as today. People were strongly encouraged, almost required, to car pool or use bicycles and motorcycles.
Sugar and other food items were extremely expensive and required a ration stamp which limited its purchase. Beef was in short supply and costly, as well as eggs, which induced many a chicken to take up residence in the suburban backyard.
Victory Gardens: To reduce the reliance on purchasing vegetables and fruit, it was considered patriotic to have your front lawn converted to rows of cabbages, zucchinis, tomatoes and carrots. Even Mrs. Roosevelt planted zucchini in the Rose Garden. Any high producing vegetable in a limited space became the focus of the weekend gardener and the mainstay of many Meatless Meals.
Watch Towers: Californians and Oregonians lived in fear of Japanese invasion. Volunteers were stationed in watch towers every several miles up and down the coastline with binoculars pointed skyward.
In Mrs. Odboddy–Hometown Patriot, Agnes experiences rationing,
volunteering at the Ration Stamp Office, organizing can and paper drives, tending her Victory Garden and cooking meatless meals, fighting the war from the home front. But this eccentric lady also keeps an eye on her nefarious neighbors, some of whom MUST be Nazi spies. She finds herself knee-deep in what is sure to be a black market ration book scam, but when the watch tower burns down on her coast watch shift, she takes the blame to keep a National Security secret.
Toss in the return of an old lover from WWI who wants to re-ignite their romance, chickens in the bathroom and a search for a million dollars in missing Hawaiian money and you have the crux of the story.
When Mrs. Roosevelt comes to Newbury to attend a funeral, and Agnes’s eccentric notions become reality, she must prove she is, indeed, a warrior on the home front.
JIM: Elaine will give a free copy of Mrs. Odboddy to one person who leaves a comment (even a very short comment), chosen at random.
On Amazon at: http://tinyurl.com/hdbvzsv
Elaine.Faber@mindcandymysteries.com (e-mail)
http://www.mindcandymysteries.com (Website)
Elaine, this sounds educational as well as fun. I love your cat mysteries and am glad there’s a cat in this one.
Well, we all know that a story’s NOT a story without at least one cat in it! But this is a departure into a humorous WWII mystery/adventure, so you will have fun as well learn about my little known facts of WWII. A fun read. Hope you enjoy.
I was a baby during the war and shoes were rationed. Mother said she used most of the rationed shoe stamps for me and my growing feet. When I was 3 or 4 years old I remember something being done to cigarette packages in the grocery store where Mother shopped. Wish I knew what the lady was doing to the packages. As I remember it, she was pushing them around some sort of plate.
It occurs to me we were united for a short time after 9/11 and the towers’ fall. As Mr. Callan said. It’s a shame that we must have a catastrophe to bring us together as a nation.
Sorry for late delay. Computer issues. You have some fascinating memories of WWII.As I continue the series (WIP Book Three), I’ll try to incorporate some of folks memories into the story line. thank you for sharing. Hope you will purchase the book and read of many other interesting events and practices necessary during the war.
Sounds like a fun book, even if the events that inspired it were not so fun.
Thanks for visiting. And as bad as it was, there were some interesting and fun times.
In fiction we are blessed to be able to take the ‘not so fun historical events’ and make light of them. after the fact.. as in life… we can forget the pain and laugh about the funny moments. In the book, you will read of many funny moments.
My uncle, who was a teen during WWII, has given me the diaries he kept during the war. Amazing read. He describes the rationing, having to work as a riveter for airplane wings and failed out of school, and had TB and was confined to a sanitarium. I want to make a book from his experiences. Hometown Patriot sounds like a book I need to read!
Wow! What a resource you have. I agree that it would make a good book. I hope you write it. Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Absolutely! Though I have taken the historical facts and made light of some of the not so fun things. You diary would be a wonderful source of information for a book. By all means, DO write it! Hope you get to read my book as well.
Yes, I well remember the rationing problems of WW II. And yes, the nation was unified as it has not been since then. But it was a false unity. The Communist Party, USA (CPUSA) had been anti-war while Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia were allies. But when Germany invaded Russia, the Party reversed course and became anti-Nazi. The rest of the left followed its lead. So the nation was unified during the war. Afterwards, the Party reversed course again, being pro-revolution and anti-imperialist (in which category it placed the US) However, the unity was at best a surface unity. The recently revealed Venona intercepts of Soviet cables identified 369 citizens and other residents who had clandestine anti-US relations with the Soviet KGB. These included high government officials. All of this makes an interesting study.
Sounds like an interesting study, Donn. And one that most people, including me, are not aware of. Thanks for the insight.
Sounds like a good historical basis for protagonist, Agnes, to ‘see spies and conspiracies” everywhere. You’ll have to read the book to see if she was right and how THAT all turned out! Thanks for your interesting bit of history. I didnt’ know how ‘on the nose’ I was with my concept.
WWII from the American side will be interesting to read. My mother is a Berliner WWII survivor, so I know her experiences pretty well. The book om which I’m working now is set in 1980s Berlin.
Thanks for visiting, Marta. I’m sure your mother would see it all from a very different perspective. Let us know when your book is available.
I know you and your mother would enjoy my book. She will remember many of the things mentioned in the story, such as squeezing yellow dye into white margarine to make it look like real butter and lighting the kitchen stove with a match…etc…The setting of the book is very 1942’s as I created the world where it all this takes place. The ‘happenings’ are a mixture of real history and fantasy, but a really fun read. Thanks for sharing.
Boy, does that bring back memories! Our Country has never since been so united.
There was a great unity of effort in the US, which allows us to mobilize quickly. What a shame that it takes such an action to unite the country. Thanks for visiting, DAC.
Dac! You must really be old. I, on the other hand was a mere babe…. yes I was! and I have no memories of WWII whatsoever. But, with lots of research and lots of imagination, Mrs. Odboddy jumps off the page as a real person experiencing all these events. I hope you will buy the book and see for yourself, the things you might have remembered! LOL.
Interesting what civilians went through during WWII.
The civilians did have to give up a bit. The rationing was more of a problem for some than for others. But those in the armed forces put much more on the line, willingly joining up to defend our country. Thanks, Kim, for coming by The Author’s Blog and leaving a comment.
I only touched on the events that our protagonist experiences during Mrs. Odboddy’s adventure. Not only must she endure the deprivations of the war, but she must expose all the conspiracies and spies that abound in her life…of course! Being a hometown patriot, she is well equipped to track down the scalliwags. And after the war, she’s going after the White Slavers!!! Indeed!
thank you, James for allowing me to share my book with your readers. I hope that many will purchased the book, as I’m sure they will enjoy it.