Crystal Lake, IL -- (SBWire) -- 12/17/2014 --When Laura Lynn Ashworth discovered a series of old letters in the house of a relative, she had no idea of the engrossing and gripping story they told. Sent between nineteen year-old Sal and fifteen year-old Loretta during the final years of WWII, their correspondence gave illuminating insight not only into a world at war, but the grassroots lives of youngsters living in its wake.
A writer and storyteller at heart, Ashworth couldn't keep them private; instead compiling them into 'Letters to Loretta from the Radio Shack: A True WWII Teenage Love Story'. Better than any movie Hollywood could ever create, this is one emotive adventure that wrote itself seventy-years ago.
Synopsis:
Read the rare and recently discovered real time letters between Sal, age 19, and Loretta, age 15, during the final terrifying three years of World War II, 1943-1945. Both from the Douglas Park neighborhood in Chicago, the two adolescents discuss with humor and candor, the Navy, war, politics, hit music, life back home and their relationship. Sal nicknamed Slabby for his movie star good looks, deciphers code out of the Navy's radio shack on a minesweeper in the Pacific. Loretta monikered Duchess for her aloofness, lives with aunts and her widowed father, while holding day jobs and enjoying an active social life with friends. Letters to Loretta from the Radio Shack lets you experience World War II, both in battle and on the home front, through the eyes of adolescents in a way that Hollywood has never portrayed.
"Sal and Loretta have no idea of the impact their private conversations are now having on our understanding of WWII history," explains Ashworth, who has won numerous awards for her work as a copywriter and political cartoonist. "I discovered them while helping a relative complete some veterans paperwork and instantly knew that this real-life story would positively buck fictional trends that have skewed our understanding. So rarely do we get a chance to hear from those who lived through WWII, about the day-to-day act of just existing."
Continuing, "We get a front-row seat to Sal and Loretta's hopes, dreams, triumphs and defeats. The wider love story picture that their correspondence paints is something no screenwriter or even veteran author could create with such authenticity. This truly is something very special."
Readers agree, leaving a string of five-star reviews. R. Alan Lewis, President of Ground Zero Books, Ltd., located in Silver Spring, Md., commented, "We have been in the book business for nearly 40 years, and I have never experienced a book with the warmth, sensitivity, insight and humanity in a wartime setting as have been presented through these letters. There has probably not been a sense of shipboard life since Mr. Roberts. Through the letters one can also capture to a greater degree than I have seen before, a sense of the impact of the war on the nearly adult on the homefront."
Dianna Skowera, author and book reviewer, adds, "Letters To Loretta From the Radio Shack is a delightful time capsule of star-crossed love during the war of all wars. Laura Lynn Ashworth has arranged a superbly poignant collection of letters that give insight into a world modern film and literature have yet to capture. It speaks its own refreshingly honest language that you won't find anywhere else – Laura Lynn Ashworth hasn't tainted the dialogue of the letters and allows you to grow with the characters from beginning to end."
'Letters to Loretta from the Radio Shack: A True WWII Teenage Love Story' is available now: http://amzn.to/1BRGgjD
For more information, visit the author's official website: http://lauralynnashworth.com
About Laura Lynn Ashworth
Laura Lynn Ashworth is an award-winning copywriter and political cartoonist. While helping an elderly family member with veterans administration paperwork, she ran across "the letters" and instantly knew of their rarity, freshness and historical significance. Although she received three publishing contracts within two months of sending the letters to major publishers, Ashworth decided to publish them herself on the advice of best-selling authors. She currently lives and works in a northwest suburb of Chicago.
