Welcome to the Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves Blog Tour!
To celebrate the release of Louisa June and the Nazis on the Waves by L.M. Elliott on March 22nd, 5 sites will be featuring exclusive guest posts from L.M. Elliott plus 5 chances to win a signed copy of Louisa June!
Shelfie
by L.M. Elliott
I fought the urge to tidy up for this Shelfie! But I took a deep breath and walked into my office to snap these photos of my floor-to-ceiling shelves. I need more, frankly. They overflow as it is with all the reading I’ve done for my twelve novels.
Shelf One: The top four shelves here are the biographies, histories, letter collections, and memoirs related to Hamilton and Peggy! A Revolutionary Friendship. That biographical novel was such fun to do, although I had to write it on an insane turn-around to catch the Hamilton wave. Ten months. From assignment—(Katherine Tegen astutely suggested I write something about Hamilton)—to completion! I chose Peggy, who pops into the Schuyler Sisters song with that exuberant “And Peggy!”, to be my protagonist because Alexander himself was sacrosanct given Lin Manuel Miranda’s brilliant musical, Eliza was already well covered, and Angelica is a bit, mmm, complicated for a YA audience.
Reading all those books was necessary because nothing is left in Peggy’s own hand. I had to research people around her to find fleeting mentions of “the wicked wit,” “the favorite at dinner tables and balls” woman “endowed with a superior mind and a rare accuracy of judgment.” The best tidbits were gossip Alexander dropped about “my spritely little sister” in love letters to Eliza, which included breadcrumbs to Peggy’s romance with a much celebrated warrior, the Maquis de Fleury. Of the non-book things, you may notice the Peggy cover replica. That was done by a young reader in melted crayon, which she gifted me at a bookstore event. Readers’ emails and their spill-over creativity so touch my heart.
I wouldn’t have survived that ten-month sprint for Peggy without the help of my adult children who have grown up to be incredibly gifted creative artists themselves. They read a good number of those 80-plus Hamilton-related books and blessed me with their notes. They are my muses, my sounding boards, my best editors. Around my desk are poems, drawings, and cards they’ve given me as they grew up, plus photos of places we’ve traveled. When I need a little inspiration, I look up at their beautiful faces and the vistas we’ve seen together, often while researching a book. My rescued setter Gracie, (Photo) sleeps under my desk and cheers me on too. My son’s dog sometimes joins her. (Photo) Who knew there was so much space under there!
Shelf Two: Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves is my fourth WWII novel. Her narrative isn’t connected by character to my best-known work Under a War-Torn Sky, its sequel A Troubled Peace (set in post-liberation France, readers kept asking what happened next to Henry Forester), and a companion focused on Henry’s hometown sweetheart, Across a War-Tossed Sea. Louisa June does, however, share Across’ Tidewater Virginia setting. One of its characters also works at the Newport News shipbuilding docks, but that novel concentrates more on the impact of German POWs brought to Virginia on the young British evacuees who escaped Hitler’s Blitz of London to stay with Patsy’s family.
You might notice a large horseshoe and a magnolia seed pod that I brought home from the day I walked what had been the fields of my father’s childhood farm in Tidewater Virginia, to drop me into that world again as I started Louisa June. They are talisman and reminders of my Daddy’s quick-witted resiliency, shown through a story he shared of a near-death experience he’d survived as a teen on that farm, recounted in a past Q & A with the Children’s Book Council.
Shelf Three: This is crammed with artbooks, travel guides, art histories, and biographies about Leonardo da Vinci and Florence’s leaders, the Medici. All research for Da Vinci’s Tiger, my biographical novel about the young poet Ginevra da Benci portrayed in Leonardo’s first solo-commissioned work—which also happens to be his only work permanently housed in the all the Americas (in Washington D.C.’s National Gallery of Art). Historically the painting was thought a wedding portrait, but more recent scholarship points to it being commissioned by the Venetian ambassador who took Ginevra as his “Platonic Muse.” The only remaining phrase from Ginevra’s poems: “I beg your pardon, I am a mountain tiger.” As soon as I saw that line, I wanted to write about her!
I’ve discovered two other fascinating women in those books connected to Leonardo I am itching to write. Stay tuned!
For more about Louisa June, please visit my webpage.
“Evocatively threaded with the scents and sounds of Tidewater Virginia coastal communities, this story presents a fascinating, lesser-known aspect of the war told from a young girl’s perspective. Successfully tackling the devastation of depression on family relationships, the bitter cost of war, and the uplifting strength of no-nonsense friendship, this story has impressive depth. Superb.”
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Middle grade lovers of World War II historical fiction will find this title engrossing. Elliot’s story delivers facts and a thoughtful approach to characters experiencing grief and depression, while adding some maritime adventure. VERDICT A must-have for all middle grade historical fiction collections. Recommend to those who enjoyed Kimberly Brubaker Bradley’s The War That Saved My Life and Marsha Forchuk Skrypuch’s Making Bombs for Hitler.”
—School Library Journal (starred review)
“Elliott weaves a deeply moving historical tale, including small but significant details that flesh out the situations and characters, even the secondary ones. The extensive and fact-filled backstory in the author’s note gives readers even more context. An excellent middle-grade read that balances adventure, emotions, and family.”
—Booklist (starred review)
“An infrequently explored aspect of WWII history—German submarines torpedoing U.S. cargo ships along America’s East Coast—underpins Elliott’s (Walls) well-crafted novel. Evocative descriptions of the region’s natural life ground this realistic depiction of one family’s efforts to withstand depression and personal tragedy during wartime.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
In this moving and timeless story, award-winning author L. M. Elliott captures life on the U.S. homefront during World War II, weaving a rich portrait of a family reeling from loss and the chilling yet hopeful voyage of fighting for what matters, perfect for fans of The War That Saved My Life.
Days after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Hitler declared war on the U.S., unleashing U-boat submarines to attack American ships. Suddenly, the waves outside Louisa June’s farm aren’t for eel-fishing or marveling at wild swans or learning to skull her family’s boat—they’re dangerous, swarming with hidden enemies.
Her oldest brothers’ ships risk coming face-to-face with U-boats. Her sister leaves home to weld Liberty Boat hulls. And then her daddy, a tugboat captain, and her dearest brother, Butler, are caught in the crossfire.
Her mama has always swum in a sea of melancholy, but now she really needs Louisa June to find moments of beauty or inspiration to buoy her. Like sunshine-yellow daffodils, good books, or news accounts of daring rescues of torpedoed passengers.
Determined to help her Mama and aching to combat Nazis herself, Louisa June turns to her quirky friend Emmett and the indomitable Cousin Belle, who has her own war stories—and a herd of cats—to share. In the end, after a perilous sail, Louisa June learns the greatest lifeline is love.
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L. M. Elliott was a magazine journalist covering women’s issues, mental health, and the performing arts for twenty years before becoming a New York Times best-selling author of historical and biographical fiction. Her twelfth and latest, Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves, is set in Tidewater Virginia during the deadly U-boat attacks on our coast in 1942. Her novels explore a variety of eras (the Italian Renaissance, the American Revolutionary War, WWII, and the Cold War), and are written for a variety of ages. Her works have been named NCSS/CBC Notables, Bank Street College Best Books, Jefferson Cup Honor Books, Kirkus Bests, and Grateful American Book Prize winners. Learn more at www.lmelliott.com and Twitter or Instagram @L_M_Elliott.
GIVEAWAY
- One (1) winner will receive a hardcover of Louisa June and the Nazis in the Waves with a SIGNED bookplate!
- US/Can only
- Ends 4/3 at 11:59pm ET
- Check out the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!
Blog Tour Schedule:
March 21st – Imagination Soup
March 22nd – Pragmatic Mom
March 23rd – Teen Librarian Toolbox
March 24th – Mrs. Book Dragon
March 25th – YA Books Central
I learned that Elliott has personal ties to Virginia and that it plays into the book as well.