Mystery Novel Memoir – World War II – Heartland America

An excerpt from the novel HAVENWOOD Tales Beginnings by D.J. Houston

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~ In Honor or My Father on Memorial Day  ~

Life Journey Memoir

My first pearl appeared the summer I turned six, not long after Daddy and Uncle Arthur returned from the Second World War.

It was a time of new necessity for Man.  For despite any halt to the march of evil, that war had turned humanity inside out when the white-hot specter of an atom bomb shocked and awed a pre-dawn New Mexico desert and twice carried death to Japan.  Yet no one could begin to grasp the consequences; it was too impossible to confront that an atom bomb could ever happen in the first place.

Even after the war, top-secret scientists kept right on with the military to convince each other, time and again, that bombs do, indeed explode, while regular Joe civilian had no clue of such experiments.  And anyone who might have been aware felt powerless to stop them.  So they did nothing.

Post-WW II Heartland America

Average Americans got busy rebuilding their post-war lives within their own limited spheres.

Families reunited with military loved ones, and did what they could to reorient them to what had become of their lost years at home.

Most made the transition; all were scarred.  But I’d like to think it was easier for the battle-weary to recover in a place like Havenwood . . .

Livestock and chickens and barns and crops and bank accounts needed tending, leaving little time to ruminate about the war.  And with new enterprises springing up as manufacturing shifted to producing wares and gadgets for the new Consumer Age, earning opportunities outside the home became abundant for adults and young people alike.

Not that play wasn’t fun and important to youth back then.  If anything, a crippling Great Depression with a Second World War on its heels led Americans of every age to value their freedoms and pleasures more than ever.

But all the kids I knew did chores, before and after school.  And those who had already proven themselves in volunteer war efforts on the home front had a long leg up when it came to getting hired for the paying jobs.

With no TV screen to spectate at for hours on end, and decades yet before the advent of ubiquitous mall arcades, video games, personal computers and phones, young people tended to play hands-on at the game of growing up.

They practiced the real deal with real people, in an insular world without internet . . .

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Author, D.J. Houston

Copyright©2007, 2012 D.J. Houston. All Rights Reserved.

Historical Fiction – Memoir Novels – Life Journey – Coming of Age - Social Commentary

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Mother’s Day Inspirations – American Literature Treasures

“My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it.”  ~  Mark Twain

♥

For mystery, miracles and memories of MOTHER’S DAY from Havenwood Tales author, D.J. Houston

CLICK HERE

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Mother’s Day Inspirations from Heartland America

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY to Moms, Mums, Mamas, Mommies and Mothers everywhere!

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– photo by D.J. Houston

How fitting Mother’s Day arrives when Spring is in full bloom   

A very Happy Mother’s Day to Mother Nature, too!

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Our Havenwood Tales protagonist and narrator, Trudie McAfee, whose stories I write for you, will forever celebrate her Mama Birdie and the mothers and grandmothers of her ancestry.

And as always with the Art of Motherhood, Trudie’s mother was her first special teacher.

Forever true will be:

“That best academy, a mother’s knee.”

- James Russell Lowell, poet

American Literature Treasures – Inspirations – Mystery of Havenwood School

Inspirations from HAVENWOOD TALES Beginnings

D.J. Houston, Author

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Art supplies kept mysteriously appearing on my table at school . . .

When I wasn’t reading, I was doing chalk or pencil drawings and watercolor paintings of the birds and flowers and forests I knew.

I even made my first attempt to draw the human face — a silhouette profile of Mister Walling, infused with a golden light.

I was adding the finishing touches when I felt Miss Greenlee’s presence arrive behind me like a soft sigh . . .

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C L I C K  H E R E  for “Art of Dreamers”

Paranormal Mystery – Inspirations – Adventure – American Literature Treasures

Copyright©2009, 2012 D.J. Houston. All Rights Reserved.

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Coming of Age – Havenwood School – American Literature Treasures

Excerpts from the novel HAVENWOOD TALES Beginnings 

D.J. Houston, Author

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I had the most godawful urge to stick my tongue out at spiteful, old Miss Hickey, the Latin teacher. 

Her mission in life since before she was born had apparently been to hate anything different or new. . . 

I did put an end to her using me for a firing range, though — daring, considering she had that willow switch hidden under her desk . . .

C L I C K   H E R E

Mystery Story – Memoir – Coming of Age – Fantasy Fiction – Inspirations

Copyright©2012 D.J. Houston. All Rights Reserved.

Life Journey – Miracles – Havenwood Spring in the Heartland

HAPPY EASTER!  HAPPY SPRING! 

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MANY MIRACLES to you and to all our gifted children coming of age in a new world of friendship and imagination!  May you find every opportunity for freedom and adventure on life’s journey!

THANK YOU to my loyal fans and readers.  The official launch of HAVENWOOD TALES is a much bigger task than I thought!

I wish you much joy and enjoyment from these last, updated excerpts I’ll be sharing with you.

May you ever be SURPRISED

CLICK  HERE:  “Spring in Heartland America“

-   Happily Yours,

Author, D.J. Houston

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American Literature Treasures – Miracles – Life Journey – Adventure – Coming of Age

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Paranormal Mystery – Adventures of Mother Nature – Fire and Storm

A 2-part glimpse at the Dark Side of HAVENWOOD TALES

D.J. Houston, Author

Mother Nature does a lot of things right.  But this was most decidedly not one of them . . .

No sooner had a warm, spring wind chased the last traces of snow into the forest floor, than a lightning storm whipped up off the Ohio River and rumbled over us like an irate god, without a drop of rain.

Then the fire broke out at Jasper Peterson’s Salvage Yard, threatening to burn the whole place to the ground and a century of trash and treasure with it.

There was no time to brace myself!

-C L I C K   H E R E

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Mystery Novel – Intrigue – Paranormal Stories -  Adventure – American Literature Treasures

Copyright©2008, 2012 D.J. Houston. All Rights Reserved.

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