Part One - eBook download file: ISBN-13: 9780884930013 $5.95 Order from www.bn.com or www.amazon.com (Note: This eBook is text to speech enabled on the Kindle.)
Part Two - eBook download file: ISBN-13: 9780884930020 $5.95 Order from www.bn.com
Part One - eBook PDF file on CD-ROM: ISBN-13: 9780884930044 $13.95 plus $1.75 P&H Order from www.eBay.com
WORLD WAR I….YOU ARE THERE
DATE….NOVEMBER 11, 1918….ARMISTICE DAY
“At about 10 o’clock this morning the Boche opposite us started to fire off everything they had and at 11 o’clock white flags were waved here and there and they came out of their trenches without arms and came across ‘No Man’s Land,’ full of joy to offer their hands in peace.” Donald Kennedy Gillespie, 2nd Lieutenant, 165thInfantry , Rainbow Division,a member of the famous “Fighting 69th.”
This is one of the many letters sent to his wife, Jen, from the battlefields of France and which is the basis of the new ebook series at Barnes & Noble www.BN.comentitled My Dear Jen - Part One, co-authored by her daughter, Rosamond Gillespie Burns and grandson, George H. Burns II, retired Commander, U.S. Coast Guard.
Jen’s true story in Part One shows life as it was in the early 1900’s. Her experiences will touch your heart as she struggles with a strict religious upbringing with a father that was a preacher at the Bowery in New York versus a personality that defies the status quo of women in that era. Finding her heart’s desire, she grapples with a father who tries to keep her from a man that he considers a drinker and one of a different religion.
Part I ends with Don sailing home, anxious to hold Jen in his arms. The war years were over, but other personal battles were still to be fought. Enjoy this journey of love. loss and survival spanning over 100years. The ebook is available from Barnes & Noble at www.BN.comsearch “My Dear Jen.”The hard cover book web site is www.MyDearJen.com
Museum library researcher, Dr. Viola E. Masters, started reading My Dear Jen, and was immediately enthralled. Dr. Masters said, "Here is a story of first-hand history straight from the heart of Jen and Don Gillespie. Reading Don's letters to Jen, written from the war front make me feel like I'm hearing a voice from the past. This is a true story --- told by Don Gillespie as he wrote to his wife and responded to her letters to him some 95 years ago.... telling her how much he loved her, how much he missed her, and what life was actually like for him in the trenches of World War I. And the story of separation and economic hardships after the war continued through Don's letters to Jen from Brazil. This book is history at its best. Telling a human down-to-earth engrossing story of life in this country during the World War I era. This book tells a powerful story of love and separation and disappointment and perseverance and family. This book tells an American story."
Celebrity endorsements include: Lucie Arnaz Luckinbill, Lucille Ball's daughter who said to the author, "Rosamond, This looks like a fascinating book." Maureen McGovern, singer, wrote "Dear Rosamond, Congrats on your absolutely beautiful book! Cheers to you!!"
News editor for The Leader,SUNY/Fredonia College newspaper, wrote, “The memoir touches on many social issues and should be of interest to students spanning multiple majors. Burns decided to write the book in order to preserve the primary source documents for readers who may be interested in WWI and the story of her mother and father's long distance relationship. The letters published within My Dear Jen chronicle the first-hand accounts of some of the great moments in WW I history - in the "Fighting 69th, 42nd Rainbow Division"
The following names, places, organizations, historic events and other items of interest are discussed in the book:
