Author Interview: Terri Wangard

Do you ever feel like you know someone after reading a book she wrote? That's the way I feel about Terri Wangard. I have met her in person, too, but I think I've seen into some of her personality through her work. I'm blessed to have been a content editor for three of Terri's books now, and her newest is about to release. This one wraps up the series and I highly recommend all of them, especially if you love novels set in WWII. Now's your chance to get to know Terri a bit too.

What is it about World War II that makes you want to set your books there?

I didn’t plan on writing so many WWII books. My debut book, Friends & Enemies, was inspired by letters found in my grandmother’s house. Distant relatives in postwar Germany had been receiving care packages from the American family. I was a history major in college and was familiar with different history magazines. I thought one of these would be interested in the letters, but maybe not enough detail was included. Then I had the idea to create the German family’s backstory. That was to be it for WWII, but an editor told me if I hoped for a contract, I’d probably need a series. I had lots of unused research on the B-17 airmen, so I wrote two more books based on the navigators.

You have included some really interesting locations in this series you're wrapping up. Where did you first learn about these lesser-known areas that were involved in the war and how did you take that and create this series?

Most WWII books are set in Europe. I like different. My idea for this series was to feature three chums in Milwaukee who go in three directions. All are pilots, but no B-17s this time around. From all my reading, I knew about the supply route through Brazil. Putting Daniel in the cockpit of a C-47 Skytrain was an easy decision. The Battle of the Atlantic revealed the value of Iceland as a base for watching over convoys, so Stefan flew the PBY seaplane. Both of these locations have little in the way of memoirs, my favorite research source, but I found a Navy photographer’s book of photos in Brazil and, for Iceland, a Red Cross worker’s and a soldier’s books of their lives there. I wouldn’t have been able write Seashells in My Pocket and No Leaves in Autumn without them. Listen For the Chickadees was originally to be set in Australia, but I’m really happy with the fighter pilot and hospital ship nurse that picked up the slack.
 
All of your books have a pilot of some sort. Why did you decide to make your heroes pilots?

I’m from a flying family. My dad had a private pilot’s license, and my brother knows how to fly, although he never got a license. His interest rubbed off on one of his school friends who is now an American Airlines captain. I could have taken lessons with them, but after a ride in a hot, sun-filled puddle-jumper, I was woozy enough to say no. Both my dad and brother were good for my questions about flying as I was writing.
 
Of all your characters, which one is most like you? In what way?

I write characters to be the way I wish I was. My heroines have been a seamstress, artists, bi-lingual, a nurse. Like Isabel in Seashells in My Pocket, I’m into seashell art, but I’m no mathematician. I was a librarian like Maren in The Storm Breaks Forth (the mother of Gloria in Listen For the Chickadees). If I had lived during WWII, my preferred contribution would have been as a Red Cross worker like Carol in Soar Like Eagles or Marie in No Leaves in Autumn.
 
What is the most interesting fact you've uncovered so far while researching?

While researching Midway for John’s visit in Listen For the Chickadees, I camped out in a rabbit’s hole, learning all about Pan Am’s luxury hotel as a way station for the Clippers. A story was begging to be written. I turned in a proposal and manuscript a few weeks ago. Fingers crossed!
 
If you could travel to one of the places you've written about, which one would you choose and why?

I globetrotted for twenty years, but this was before I started writing. Now I wish I’d taken more photos and visited different sites. I’ve never been to Iceland and that island has incredible scenery. I’d like to return to Germany and visit Bickenbach, my ancestral home and setting for Friends & Enemies. I’d like to visit Ridgewell Airbase in England where my B-17s flew from. Most of all, I want to return to Hawaii and Pearl Harbor. I visited twice long ago. Now there’s a bridge over the harbor to Ford Island. I’d visit more of the museums and tour the Missouri. It had just arrived before my last visit, but wasn’t open to the public yet. And I learned last year that my grandfather was in Hawaii in the 1920s with the coastal artillery, so I’d visit sites from that.
 
Can you give us a sneak peek into what's next?

I’ve written a collection of novellas set in the prewar years about Americans returning home before the war engulfs them. Yes, one includes the China Clipper in 1938. Also, the Hindenburg in 1937 and an ocean liner that aids survivors of the torpedoed Athenia in 1939.
 
Last but not least, what is one interesting fact about you that very few people already know?

Way back when, I was a competitive swimmer on the Green Bay YMCA swim team. I missed qualifying for the nationals meet by one second.

Now that you all know a bit more about Terri and her books, be sure to check out her newest book, soon to release. Seriously, you guys are you going to love her pilots!

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Listen for the Chickadees

December 7, 1941 shatters the illusion that anyone is safe.

Navy nurse Gloria Bloch wakes to the thunder of enemy planes over Pearl Harbor, certain of only one thing: John Walsh, the boy she has loved since childhood, is far from danger aboard an aircraft carrier. Or so she believes.

When panicked American gunfire brings John down over the harbor, their reunion is brief and breathtaking, forged in chaos neither can escape.

As the Second World War drives the United States into the Pacific conflict, Gloria and John are swept onto separate paths of duty. Gloria serves aboard the hospital ship USS Serenity, tending shattered bodies and wounded souls. John flies combat missions as a Navy fighter pilot and combat photographer, risking everything to document a war that refuses to leave him untouched.

Their paths cross again and again in fleeting moments between air raids and surgeries, courage and fear, longing and loss. With every meeting, the feelings they have buried deepen. But war demands more than love. It demands sacrifice, tests faith, and steals time without warning.

When separation stretches into silence, Gloria must face the terrifying possibility that hope itself has become another casualty of war.

As war and distance threaten to pull them apart, only the smallest signs remain: a whistle, a painted bird, and a promise worth holding onto.

Listen for the Chickadees is a Christian World War II historical romance set against the backdrop of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. Navy, and the Pacific War. It is a story of steadfast love, quiet faith, and the courage it takes to trust God when tomorrow is uncertain.

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Terri Wangard grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin, during the Lombardi Glory Years. Her first Girl Scout badge was the Writer. Holder of a bachelor’s degree in history and a master’s degree in library science, she is back in Wisconsin after several years in Michigan, Utah, and California. Her WWII research included going for a ride in a B-17 Flying Fortress bomber. She is a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers and serves as the Carol contest coordinator and is secretary of the Wisconsin Southeast ACFW chapter.
 
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