Help me welcome back author and blogger Linda Shenton Matchett as she shares about her upcoming release.

Most of my stories are inspired by events or historical figures, and War’s Unexpected Gift is no different and is a conglomeration of several factors. The book features nurse Gwen Milford, who is a secondary character in A Doctor in the House. I thought she deserved her own story.

I was watching an episode of the BBC mystery show Foyle’s War when I first learned about Great Britain requisitioning thousands of their country’s manor homes for use as troops billets, military headquarters, storage for art or other important treasures, schools, orphanages, listening or monitoring centers, training locations, or hospitals, and I was intrigued. With so many unique uses for these huge homes, the story possibilities are endless. I considered putting Gwen into another manor-home-turned-hospital and began my research into the various units within the American Army Medical Corps.

The exploits of the 105^th and 103^rd medical battalions caught my attention, and I dug deeper. Both these units (as well as many others), made their way across Europe as the war progressed. As the Germans were pushed farther and farther back and finally into their own country some of the medical units ended up in Germany. I wanted to explore how that may have felt, and I also wanted to take Gwen out of the comforts of a convalescent hospital in a mansion surrounded by hundreds of bucolic acres of farmland and forest to the rigors of an evacuation hospital close to combat zones that relocates several times.

My research gave me an even greater appreciation for the men and women who served in this capacity. Evacuation hospitals were “mobile units designed to provide near the front facilities for major medical and surgical treatment of casualties. They received patients from division, corps, and army clearing stations, and their job was to begin “definitive treatment,” sort the casualties, and for extended evacuation of certain patients. They remained in the hospital from a few hours to a few weeks.” (Source: U.S. Medical Research Center)

What surprised me the most was the two types of evac hospitals: 400-bed semi-mobile and 750-bed mobile. Think about that! My husband and I downsized and moved into a smaller home five years ago, and I still remember the logistics and minutia surrounding the event. It was weeks in the planning. Now, transfer that concept to relocating an entire hospital including the pharmacy, lab, and surgical center. Then add roads that may be barely passable because of bombing or traveling across mountains in the winter. I read more than a few accounts of the “thrills and chills” of traversing icy and snow-slicked roads. By the way, you need to keep the patients comfortable and alive.

It is my hope that War’s Unexpected Gift honors theses sometimes unsung heroes of the military.

War’s Unexpected Gift (coming July 2, 2024)

Love and war don’t mix. Or do they?

Eager to do even more for the war effort, nurse Gwen Milford puts in for a transfer from a convalescent hospital outside of London to an evac hospital headed across Europe. Leap-frogging from one location to the next, nothing goes as expected from stolen supplies to overwhelming numbers of casualties. Then, there’s the handsome doctor who seems to be assigned to her every shift. As another Christmas approaches without the war’s end, can she find room in her heart for love?

War’s Unexpected Gift was originally part of the limited-edition anthology A Merry Heart that is no longer in publication.

Pre-order Link: https://books2read.com/u/4jG2wl

About Linda:

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. Whether you choose my books set in the Old West or across the globe during WWII, you will be immersed in the past through rich detail. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Linda was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII.



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