Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn is set in 1943 during the
weeks leading up to the first Allied Conference at the Anfa Hotel in
Casablanca.. The title could just as easily have been Unconditional Surrender,
since this was the conference at which Roosevelt and Churchill set that policy
with regard to the Axis powers. The story centers around two people who have no
desire for wartime romance, but are thrown together by circumstances.
What gave you the idea
for it and what made you want to write it?I have always been interested in World War II, so writing a novel set during the war was a natural for me. When I first started this novel, it was entitled Wings and featured a ninety-day-wonder, as Army Air Corps pilots in training were called, and an army nurse. They were stationed at the training facility at Hialeah, Florida, but the story just wasn’t working for me. During communication with another author who also had been a WWII pilot, he happened to mention a fellow pilot who was stationed at Casablanca during the war. A little research led me to the Anfa Conference, the policy of unconditional surrender, and an intercepted Allied communication that could have doomed the conference but for a simple mistake made by a German translator.
My hero became an OSS officer with very unique talents and no desire for romance. My army nurse
You are so right. Add romance and what could be better? What do you like best about your current hero?
Kurt is a hero in the truest sense of the word. He is willing to die to keep his country and the girl he loves safe.
What about your heroine?
Sarah is the best friend a person could possibly have. She is courageous, determined, and caring. She goes above and beyond the call of duty to offer comfort to the young wounded soldiers in her care.
How about a blurb?
Casablanca: Appointment at Dawn By Linda Bennett Pennell
Will seven days be enough time to save the Allied war effort and the girl he loves?
Casablanca, 1943: a viper’s nest of double agents and spies where OSS Officer Kurt Heinz finds his skill in covert operations pushed to the limit. Allied success in North Africa and the fate of the First Allied Conference—perhaps the outcome of the war—hang on Kurt’s next mission. The nature of his work makes relationships impossible. Nonetheless, he is increasingly torn between duty and the beautiful girl who desperately needs his protection and help.
Sarah Barrett, U.S. Army R.N., is finished with wartime romance. Determined
to protect her recently broken heart, she throws all of her time and energy
into caring for her patients, but when she is given a coded message by a
mysterious dying civilian, she is sucked into a vortex of danger and intrigue
that threatens her very survival. The one person who can help Sarah is Kurt, a
man with too many secrets to be trusted.
Buy link Casablanca:
Appointment at Dawn: http://amzn.com/B0121Q6S88 What are you working on now?
My latest project is entitled Miami Days, Havana Nights and features history professor Liz Reams from my first published work, Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel. This time, she is on the trail of the mob’s accountant and member of Murder Incorporated, Meyer Lansky.
How can readers reach you or find you online?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorLindaBennettPennell
Website: http://www.lindapennell.com/
Twitter: @LindaPennell
Blog: https://historyimagined.wordpress.com
And how can readers find your other books?
Buy link for Al Capone at the Blanche Hotel: http://amzn.to/16qq3k5
Buy link for Confederado do Norte: http://amzn.com/B00LMN5OMI
Buy link for When War Came Home: http://amzn.com/B010RXNZRO
Thanks, Linda, for being my guest today!
.jpg)
Thank you, Rebecca, for hosting me today11
ReplyDeleteThis sounds terrific Linda--how could Casablanca not be romantic? Good luck with the book.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Andrea!! Glad you like the sound it. :-)
DeleteInteresting interview! Hope you have great
ReplyDelete