Someone recently asked to see a photo of Hoover, so I went through old photos looking for one showing his gray jowls puddled on the floor — it was a common sight in his last years. Looking through the old photos made me miss our sweet old boy. We still miss him so.
Over the years I’ve acquired four French WWII POW postcards. The cards are different from letters men like Marcel wrote in that they seem rigid, rule-wise. READ MORE
On Monday, October 8 I had the honor of giving two presentation during the Fox Cities Book Festival. READ MORE
I had the honor of meeting Kay N. Sanders a couple of days ago at the Fox Cities Book Festival. She mentioned this poem, and I’m delighted she has allowed me to post it here. I hope you are touched by Kay’s reflection on her mother’s handwriting.
Not long ago I was searching through old digital photos looking for something entirely unrelated to the book when I came across photos from the January 2012 trip Aaron, Hoover and I took to Gunflint Lodge in far northern Northern Minnesota.READ MORE
Not long ago, a fellow author contacted me with questions about attending a book club. It was the first time she was going to attend a book club as a guest author, and was looking for information on what to expect and suggestions on what to bring.READ MORE
I was happy to learn “Marcels’ Letters” was a category finalist for the Eric Hoffer Book Award.READ MORE
My parents are engaged in the slow process of cleaning out the home they’ve lived in the last 35 years. Recently, for example, they cleared papers out of an old secretary my grandmother used (my dad’s mother). READ MORE
A.Grillot
Stöckenerstrasse 351, Stube 43 [351 Stöckener Street, Room 43]
Stöcken-Hannover
Hannover, July 18, 1944
To all of my very dear ones,
I’m sending these few lines to you this evening, Tuesday, to give you my news, which is still as good as possible. READ MORE
Last weekend I received an extraordinary message from a woman named Delphine.
“My mother-in-law, Suzanne Lamy,” Delphine wrote, “knew Marcel from Berchères-la-Maingot, where she lived when she was young. Marcel used to go hunting with her family… She was touched that you wrote this book that reminded her a lot from her childhood.”READ MORE
Thorn, the 4th of June, 1944 Carte
My little adored Marie,
I see, my love, that you have received good news from Jeannot (Johnny). I’m happy about that, darling. READ MORE
Perhaps it was because he was the only other living person in the graveyard. But the old white-haired man, sitting with a straight back on a stack of wooden stools caught my attention. Or, perhaps it was the sound of his work that piqued my curiosity; the graveyard was silent other than the tapping of his mallet.
