June 6 marks the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The World War Two invasion of Europe by the Allied forces is considered a turning point of the 20th century.
A western Illinois man has released a novel partially set on that historic day.
“Flying Lessons” is by Scott Grange, who recently moved to Macomb after retiring from teaching in Nevada.
Grange said the book tells two stories.
“Half of the book takes place in 1944, and that’s the grandfather. He is a World War II B-24 pilot,” Grange said.
He said the other half of the book revolves around a contemporary man in his mid-50s who’s going through a mid-life crisis.
“He discovers that his grandfather was this hero and he didn’t know anything about it,” Grange said. “His life’s journey – his flight – changes when he decides to go to Normandy and find out more about his grandfather.”
Grange said the book is fiction, but is based in part on his own grandfather’s experiences as a B-24 pilot in the Pacific theater during the war.
He chose to have that portion of the novel set over France rather than the Pacific because he’s familiar with Normandy – he’s been there several times, first as a teenager and later as an adult, mostly recently five years ago.
Grange also felt a setting in Normandy might appeal to a wider audience. He said Americans aren’t taught as much about the Pacific theater, whereas D-Day is a well-known, significant moment in history.
“I picked a topic I think that was just a little more public and a little more accessible, and that’s why I centered the 1944 story around D-Day rather than in the Pacific,” he said.
Grange said the idea for the book has been bouncing around in his head for about 30 years. He finally found time to sit down and write it after retiring.
He’s glad he didn’t write the story right away.
“I think I really had to live to be able to put some of the adult emotions that came out in the book that I wouldn’t have had 20 or 30 years ago,” he said.
Book signings
Grange has three book signings scheduled this month:
· Thursday, June 6, at Wordsmith Bookshoppe in Galesburg, 6 to 8 p.m.
· Thursday, June 20 at Burlington By the Book, 4 to 7 p.m.
· Saturday, June 22, at New Copperfield’s Book Service in Macomb, 1 to 3 p.m.
More about the author
Grange was an educator in Reno, Nevada, for 30 years. He taught history to junior high school students for seven years, then worked as a school administrator for 18 years, before concluding his career as a high school history teacher for five years.
A few years ago, Grange and his fiancé started looking for places where they might want to live in retirement. They found the West Coast too expensive, so they started looking at houses in the Midwest.
That eventually brought them to Macomb, where they bought a house two years ago even though they have no family in western Illinois. She moved to the community at the time, and he joined her a year ago after retiring with his full pension.
“We loved the fact the university is here. We knew it would bring some culture to the town,” Grange said.
“We love the nice slowdown and the friendly attitude and everything that we moved here for. It’s been everything we asked for.”
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