Title: An Enemy Like Me
Author: Teri M Brown
Genre: Historical Fiction
Book Blurb:
How does a man show his love - for country, for heritage, for family - during a war that sets the three at odds? What sets in motion the necessity to choose one over the other? How will this choice change everything and everyone he loves?
Jacob Miller, a first-generation American, grew up in New Berlin, a small German immigrant town in Ohio where he endured the Great Depression, met his wife, and started a family. Though his early years were not easy, Jacob believes he is headed toward his 'happily ever after' until a friend is sent to an internment camp for enemy combatants, and the war lands resolutely on his doorstep.
In An Enemy Like Me, Teri M. Brown uses the backdrop of World War II to show the angst experienced by Jacob, his wife, and his four-year-old son as he leaves for and fights in a war he did not create. She explores the concepts of xenophobia, intrafamily dynamics, and the recognition that war is not won and lost by nations, but by ordinary men and women and the families who support them.
Excerpt:
Jacob let out a sigh halfway between contentment and exasperation. Except for the tension between his mother and his wife, he couldn’t imagine life being any better. He still held out hope that his mother would come around, but she sure was taking her time. Even a baby hadn’t softened his mother’s stance, and although Jacob took William by to visit his mother regularly, the chasm between the women remained impenetrable.
Shaking off the exasperation, he headed down the stairs to do a little extra work for Johnny. It was Sunday, but Johnny had a few small projects in the showroom that needed attention, and Jacob had the time to help. When he arrived, Johnny was already working and whistling along with Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air. Jacob didn’t much care for opera, much preferring the orchestra’s big band sounds, but Johnny listened to this broadcast weekly as an avid fan.
At 5:14 pm, a news bulletin interrupted the show – a news bulletin that would change the course of Jacob’s life forever. Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor, a US base in the Hawaiian Islands, and declared war on the United States and Great Britain. It was December 7th, 1941.
The workroom, where Jacob had been repairing a broken leg of a small table, became deathly still. Jacob slowly sank to the ground, a roaring sound, that of blood rushing through his veins, filled his ears. A war. The country he loved was at war.
The war brewing in Europe was not news. Those issues had been ongoing for years. However, he had maintained a strong conviction that the United States would not become involved in another war. The World War over two decades before had been too devastating. American politicians did not seem inclined to put the country at risk again, and Jacob agreed wholeheartedly.
Except, now Japan had bombed his country and declared war. Every conviction he held the moment before the announcement, those of neutrality and isolationism, were no longer valid.
Jacob stood and glanced at Johnny, who no longer focused on his work. “Go,” he said. “Go to your wife and son.” Jacob turned and raced up the stairs. He wanted to hold his family close and protect them. From what, he was not yet sure.
When he pushed open the door, he found Bonnie sitting on the floor with her hair down around her shoulders, playing with little cars with William. They both looked up happily as he entered the room, and William crawled to his father for his “I’m back from work” kiss. Jacob dutifully kissed his son as he sought out Bonnie’s eyes.
His fear must have been evident, because she stood slowly, smoothed down her skirt, and said, “What is it, Jacob? You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Is it your mother? Is everything okay?”
“Bonnie…we…the United States…Japan…” He couldn’t say it. He caught her eyes again.
“What, Jacob? The United States and Japan, what? I don’t know what you are talking about.”
Wordlessly, turned on the radio in time for Bonnie to hear the repeated news that Japan had declared war. Somehow, the proclamation within the walls of his cozy home, a home filled with love and laughter, made it more real and more terrifying. He scooped William up off the floor, moved quickly to Bonnie’s side, and held his family close.
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What makes your featured book a must-read?
An Enemy Like Me, is a beautifully layered book that delves into the complexities of war and the effects it has on those who have an intense love of country, family, and one’s heritage. It is a read that showcases the indelible mark the many facets and effects war leaves on the human spirit.
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Open Internationally.
Runs May 22 – May 28, 2024.
Winner will be drawn on May 29, 2024.
Author Biography:
Born in Athens, Greece as an Air Force brat, Teri M Brown graduated from UNC Greensboro. She began her writing career helping small businesses with content creation and published five nonfiction self-help books dealing with real estate and finance, receiving multiple awards. In 2017, after winning the First Annual Anita Bloom Ornoff Award for Inspirational Short Story, she began writing fiction in earnest, and published her debut novel in 2022, Sunflowers Beneath the Snow, a historical fiction set in Ukraine, which has won 12 awards. Her second novel published in 2023, An Enemy Like Me, takes place during WWII, winning 27 awards. Her latest novel, Daughters of Green Mountain Gap, a generational story about Appalachian healers launched in January 2024 and has already won three awards. Teri is a wife, mother, grandmother, and author who loves word games, reading, bumming on the beach, taking photos, singing in the shower, hunting for bargains, ballroom dancing, playing bridge, and mentoring others. Learn more at www.terimbrown.com.
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