About the Book

Book: A Promise of Home: A WW2 Family Saga

Author: Kathryn Spurgeon

Genre: Historical Fiction

Release Date: November 21, 2022

What did WW11 look like for those who remained in the U.S? As the war heats up, hundreds of young men from Fremont’s hometown of Shawnee, Oklahoma, enlist, or get drafted. Word filters in about the wounded, the missing in action, and those who have died overseas.

Fremont Pope has not been drafted, but to do his part, he finds a job at an ammunition plant in Colorado Springs. His wife, Sibyl, hopes to teach women at a new church. They’re glad to get away from their cantankerous family, and then their family follows them to Colorado!

When the plant begins to close down, Fremont’s boss offers an amazing promotion back east. Their other choice is to move to New Mexico for mission work. Which will it be? Plunge ahead to a lucrative corporate job or help a small new church grow?

Ultimately, they yearn to go home, but where is home? Are they willing to give up their dreams and begin again?

As the couple stays in touch with people in their hometown, they learn of numerous war-time tragedies. Their return to Shawnee coincides with soldiers returning home. Based on a true story, footnotes and author’s notes are included.Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Kathryn Spurgeon, an inspirational biographical writer. She’s won many awards including an Illumination Book Award. Publishing over a hundred stories, articles, and poems, she’s also published four novels. She grew up on an Oklahoma farm before moving to South Korea, where she adopted two children. She and her husband, Bill, now live in Oklahoma and have six children and fourteen beautiful grandchildren.

More from Kathryn

Researching the 1930s and 40s was almost more fun than writing the book!

Some reviewers’ remarks about this series:

“I could have learned a lot more in history class if we would have had stories like these.”

“Wow, reading this was like being there as it was happening. Cannot wait for more books by Ms. Spurgeon.”

Interview with Kathryn

Share something your readers wouldn’t know about you.

My husband is a Texan through and through and I’m an Okie, raised in the heartland. A big conflict. However, and I don’t mention this often, I was born in Texas. He’s proud to announce that fact, but I’m a little bit embarrassed. I claim Oklahoma as my home state and that’s where most of my stories are set.

Does one of the main characters hold a special place in your heart? If so, why?

My mother, the oldest child in my biographical novels, the Promise Series, remembers the 1930s and 40s in detail. Her memory is so excellent, she recalls the color of dress she wore on a specific holiday, minutiae of laundry day using a washboard, and the middle name of relatives to the nth degree. I can’t compete, but that means she’s a great source of information. The books are more hers than mine.

What were the highlight or key challenges you faced when writing this book?

Research, research, research, which is true of most historical novels. Research is both a highlight and a key challenge. My husband says I love research more than writing and he may be right. I have chased many rabbit trails.

For A Promise of Home, I researched the many records of actual, local people involved in WWII. Heartbreaking, but I was happy to include their names in my book as a memorial.

What is the key theme and/or message in the book?

One major theme in this book is that life goes on. Whatever difficulty or despair, and there may be many, God can help us through. We must persevere, cling to each other, and above all, keep the faith.

Any current or upcoming projects you’d like to tell us about?

I love my genre, biographical fiction, or novels based on true stories. I’m working on a prequel to the Promise Series. It’s set in Waco, now a ghost town in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, where Eva and Ollie Pope, Fremont’s parents, homesteaded. A part of the Cross Timbers and in the last vestiges of stagecoaches and horse thieves, this area in the early 1900s was made up of farmers who still plowed by hand and one room schoolhouses scattered throughout the countryside. The main character comes from a more refined background and must acclimatize to a different way of life, one that may include an amusing, handsome farm boy. 

Where can readers find out more about you and your book.

I’m active on social media and would love to connect.

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/author/KathrynSpurgeon

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorKathrynSpurgeon

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/kspurg1/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kathrynspurgeon

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/15111563.Kathryn_Spurgeon

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathryn.spurgeon.54/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/kathryn-spurgeon

Website: https://kathrynspurgeon.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kathryn.spurgeon.54/

Blog Stops

Gina Holder, Author and Blogger, August 11 (Author Interview)

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, August 11

Texas Book-aholic, August 12

Locks, Hooks and Books, August 13

She Lives to Read, August 14

Life on Chickadee Lane, August 14

Cover Lover Book Review, August 15

lakesidelivingsite, August 16

Connie’s History Classroom, August 17

Betti Mace, August 18

The Book Club Network, August 19

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, August 20

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, August 21

For Him and my Family, August 22

Pause for Tales, August 23

Lights in a Dark World, August 24

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Kathryn is giving away the grand prize package of a $25 Amazon e-gift card and a copy of the book!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

https://promosimple.com/ps/27166/a-promise-of-home-celebration-tour-giveaway