Resilient Women of WWII: A Historical Fiction Tribute with Author Meredith Ritchie

My guest today on the Online for Authors podcast is Meredith Ritchie, author of the book Poster Girls. Her historical fiction novel takes place in North Carolina during WWII, and is based on the true but forgotten events that happened in her hometown. When her triplets left for college, she wrote Poster Girls as a cure for acute empty nest syndrome. She now lives in Charlotte with her husband, two cats, four chickens and grown adults that occasionally return to her cozy coop.

Poster Girls was named 2022 "Best of the Nest" for fiction by QC Nerve magazine and was recently named as part of the 2024 North Carolina Reads program sponsored by NC Humanities, a division of the Library of Congress. A lifelong learner, Meredith believes history told in the form of stories can never be forgotten, especially history that happened in our own backyard.

In my book review, I stated that Meredith tells a delightful story about a group of "Rosie the Riveters" working in a bullet factory in Charlotte, NC during WWII. The story comes from two points of view - Maggie and Cora. Both women are married to soldiers, have moved to Charlotte from other areas, and love books - enough to start a friendship. However, others aren't quite as keen to see this relationship, since Maggie is a white woman of privilege and Cora is a poor, black woman.

These two women are strong and fight for themselves and for one another. I enjoy how Meredith shows how, despite her good intentions, Maggie often 'gets it wrong.' I also love how she shows that Cora, who interprets life through a lens of racism, also gets it wrong. Most importantly, I love how the two characters persevere despite it all.

​If you love a good historical fiction, especially one that makes you think about issues we face today, then, this is the book for you.

You can follow Author Meredith Ritchie

Website: meredithritchie.com

IG: @postergirlsbook

Teri M Brown, Author and Podcast Host: https://www.terimbrown.com
FB: @TeriMBrownAuthor

IG: @terimbrown_author

X: @terimbrown1

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