The Whittaker Saga

  While Maurice is fighting in the trenches and Anna is fighting in the hospital, the reality of war is far away from Willow Creek. It may be in the news, charity organisations are working overtime and the young men's absence is surely felt, but it is still a far way off and as of yet no one the town people know has died in the war. Instead, matters closer at hand worry the people of Willow Creek. Like the new "sneeze malady" that the papers write about. Especially in the national papers that Joseph sometimes brings home from the club. The news is of course worrying, and rumors have it that two women who were ill might have had this discase, though it is of course too early to tell. In the Whittaker household, Abigail has set Dolly to clean everything in the house extra carefully, but otherwise try to keep things as normal as possible. After all, the local newspapers urges calm, and writes that "Influenza does not spread, or become severe in warm, sunny weather, suc...

  In Del Sol Valley, Alice is becoming ever more successful. She moves between parties at Judith Ward's home, to photoshoots, to auditions and roles. As a result of her hard work she is promoted within the production company, and make more money as she's hired. But in all the glamour there is also time for every day life, and living alone Alice gets to learn all about the kind of chores she never had to do back home. Cleaning, washing up, cooking (she quite enjoys that one) and washing clothes (she definitely does not enjoy that one). She also makes new friends. One in particular, Cora is someone who she can actually relax with and whose company she can enjoy not as a part of promoting her career, but relaxing with. After her last promotion and rent payment, it's time - or so says Judith Ward - to move into a more respectable apartment. Somewhere she can entertain, and as an apartment has been made available in the Mirage... well of course she wants to move there! ...

  My dearest beloved,  I do not know how to start this letter. I suppose by telling you that I have arrived all right and that I am still in the land of the living. Life in the trenches is what I remember it to be, but so much harder this time as I keep thinking of you. Last time I had no wish for anything but to fight for my country, but now I worry for your safety, and long to be with you again.  Conditions are as bad as ever, but we soldier through the best we can. It turns out some of the fellows here are actually quite good story tellers, which help. A fellow named Gaston told such a fantastic horror story that we all went to bed a little more frightened than we probably have ought to be.  Oh! How I love you and as I sit here waiting I wonder what you are doing. I must not do that. It is hard enough sitting waiting for whatever comes next. The bombardment is constant, but then you know that. You can hear it well enough in Glimmerbrook. How hard it is to be so cl...

Dearest Alice!  I am afraid your letter does not find me at my happiest, as Maurice has received his marching papers and has left Glimmerbrook for the time being. I have to admit that even if we both knew it was a matter of time, the news hit us both hard. We have been living in a bubble, both knowing what would come but pretending it wouldn't. But now it has and my heart is aching from the loss as acutely as if one of my limbs had been torn away from me.  It is fortunate that I have my work, and that it keeps me busy or I'd be lost in the blackest corners of my mind. I can certainly understand the duality in what our sister is feeling, because I feel it too. I would not love Maurice if he was not the man he is, if he was not so brave and not only willing but eager to fight for his country again and return to the front and his fellow soldiers, and yet my heart breaks at the very idea that he is no longer by my side and might never be again, but I cannot think that. I cannot al...

  Dearest Anna!  Did you hear the news? No, not about the war, I know for sure that you have heard those news and that they delight you where you are. Here it's little anyone can talk about. Most think it's the right thing to do, some are more hesitant, but apparently volunteers are flooding to the recruitment office and we here in Del Sol are more busy than ever. Charity parties are constant, though I am not important enough to be invited to most of them yet, but even in films. We make promotions for war bonds, for volunteering to the war, for joining the forces of nurses. It's all quite hectic.  But that was not the news I was referring to. I was referring to the news of our sister. Mother is so excited that she even went to the grocers to borrow their telephone so she could share the news with me. We have a telephone in the upper floors of the building and mother knows it, but it still felt so strange to hear her voice from so far away. She said she could not possibly ...

  While the war has been a reality for Anna for some time, the rest of the US wakes up to a new world as the war becomes a living reality for every family in the US on a morning in 1917:    In the Whittaker household, Josephine doesn't really get why this upsets her parents so much. After all, it's her birthday, shouldn't they be more concerned with her party? Joseph tries to explain to his little girl what this means, but somehow it doesn't really hit home. Yet, that is. Instead, Josephine is much more interesting in what she will get, who will come to her party and what her wardrobe is going to look like as her mother takes her out to change into more adult attire. To her chagrin, Josephine's clothes fit very well for a young woman, and only her hair needs any real updating as the loose hair of a girl is no longer appropriate. What Joseph and Abigail understands, however, that Josephine has yet to grasp, is how fundamentally this will change life for so many fam...

  Dearest Alice,  How is it that you know more about myself than I do? Here I thought it was Glimmerbrook I was falling in love with, when in truth there was something else going on. Maurice has been so brave. You should have seen his wounds as he arrived. He came so close to dying and the scars he still bears in his face and on his body is just a testament to his bravery. I suppose it has affected me deeper than I thought.  On my latest day off he asked me to meet him at the café. I expected him to show up like he usually dresses, in his uniform, but instead he was dressed in civilian clothing. I had to admit I was embarrassed by my own attire, showing up in my uniform, but he was a gentleman and said nothing of it. It was the first time we were there on our own, and it was strange at first, but in a good way. We talked so long that it turned dark before we knew it, so he offered to walk me home.  He still gets fatigued, walking too much, so we took a rest on bench,...