That's a huge topic, and not one that I'm going to tackle at the moment. But I do want to explore the role of women in one regard: the soldier's return home. I spoke at Politics and Prose (our wonderful local bookstore) recently and talked about how my mother and many other women had dealt with the joys and difficulties of that reunion in 1946. A member of the audience rose and asked, "How different is it now, with women soldiers returning from a war zone, sometimes to a family with young children - children who may not remember their mothers any more than your brother remembered your father when he returned from overseas?" What a great question. If any of you can shed light on this subject, please contact me at info@janelvin.com or leave a comment here. I'd especially like to talk to any women who have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan and have returned home to family.
And I'd like to thank to Jenny Andrews from www.notalone.com for her help. The site is a great resource, devoted to helping the community of military men, women and families to face the challenges of coming home.
On other fronts, I will be giving a talk about The Box from Braunau: In Search of My Father's War and signing books tomorrow night, October 1, in Ellicott City, Maryland at the Howard County Library, Miller Branch. You can call to sign up and get directions 410/313-1950, or go online to www.hclibrary.org to sign up. (It's not necessary to sign up in order to attend, but it helps them figure out how many chairs to put out!)
Thursday, October 1, 2009 7 p.m. Howard County Library Miller Branch 9421 Frederick Road Ellicott City, MD 21042
Photo above: My mother, Jane Elvin, showing me Raggedy Ann, early 1947.
