Under Familiar Stars

1943 -- Love has found her. But can it last?
Mae Johnson marries the man she loves-only to see him depart for Europe to serve as a Medic in a horrible war. Oliver left her pregnant, but he doesn't know it yet. How will her pregnancy affect their relationship? How will it affect her war work?
While he's away, she continues to do what she's been doing: build munitions of war.
There's an irony there. She builds bombs and grenades to destroy, while he struggles to preserve lives.
The year will be filled with challenges for them both.
In Texarkana, Mae and her roommates meet and befriend members of an ill-fated jazz band.
A devastating winter event leaves her reeling.
Summer brings racial tensions to the fore in the city.
And an old boyfriend resurfaces to plant the seeds of jealousy in her heart.
In Europe, Oliver faces trials, too.
first assignment is in a large military hospital. That won't last, and he eventually accompanies American fighting forces as the Allies begin the liberation of Italy.
At times he'll be filled with awe when his team is able to save severely wounded men.
But he's brought to his knees when he can't save them all.
Meetings with special soldiers will have a profound effect on him-
As will the arrival of a team of American nurses.
What will be the outcome for these friends turned lovers?
Will the horrors of war weaken their marriage, strengthen it, or destroy it?

After living most of her life near Texarkana, Arkansas/Texas, Janet Brantley recently moved to Ocean Springs on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Her first novel, Murder by Any Other Name, was set here in 2015. Janet had a decades-long career in education, during which she taught Social Studies and Special Education to kids from Kindergarten to 12th grade-sometimes even at the same time. During the 1990s she went back to school herself and earned her Ph.D. in History from the University of North Texas (Denton), after which she taught at Texarkana College and Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Interviews she conducted for her dissertation led her to eventually begin work on her current series, of which this book is the second. You can find more info and some of Janet's other writings at: http: www.janetbrantleywrites.comYou can contact Janet at janetbrantleywriter@gmail.com