True Friends, set in 1918 Memphis, Tennessee, was released in August 2005 by Echelon Press.  In True Friends the Great War rages across Europe, and cries of “Hun lover” taunt Annie as she searches for true friendship.   She is separated from Elvie, her oldest and dearest friend, because “coloreds” and whites cannot be friends.  Mama forbids her to roam and play ball with the neighbor boys, and the new girl, Iris Elizabeth, comes to town with a totally different set of values. Then the Spanish flu epidemic turns Annie’s world upside down bringing tragedy and a new look at life.

After hearing tale after tale from friends and relatives about what happened during World War I and the Spanish flu epidemic, I noticed the scarcity of middle grade novels set in that time period so I decided to write my own story about the time.  I spent a summer in the library, immersed in 1918 newspapers from Memphis and other cities before writing True Friends.  Now it’s hard for me to separate fact from fiction in the story. 

Annie in True Friends lives next to three cemeteries at the city limits of 1918 Memphis.  Rose and Della Bolman live about two miles away from Annie on a small farm.  That’s where I grew up many years later.  Ford N. Taylor, the new school in the story, was my elementary school, but by the time I got there the name had been changed to Pine Hill.  After Annie’s time, the pastures behind the school became a golf course.  

-Grace

TRUE FRIENDS
Chapter One

Miz Lizzie was always advising Mama to start making a lady out of me.  To avoid her sharp eyes, I slunk through the tall Johnson grass as long as I could before I ran across the road toward home.  The sky had darkened, and thunder rolled in the distance.  Zipping around the house to the back, I hoped to wash off at the pump before Mama saw me.  She'd have my hide for coming home covered with drying brown clay.  But there she was, sitting on the back porch, snapping beans.

"Annie Lou Davis, where have you been?" she said.

When I started to answer, my mud mask cracked around my mouth and along my cheeks.

Eyebrows nearly up to her hair, Mama stared at me with her you've-done-it-now look until her mouth twitched into a smile.  When she started laughing, I thought I was home free.  Mama didn't laugh often, but when she did, anybody in hearing distance had to join in with her trilling yodel.  She wouldn't listen when I tried to explain.  She just shook her head, saying, "Annie, it's time you learn to be a proper girl."

By the time I washed off most of the mud, a heavy gray stillness had squeezed all the light out of a day that had begun with a sunny sparkle.  Rain the night before had washed the world clean and cooled the air.  That morning the trees around Dodd's pasture glowed green with freshness against a clear blue sky, and the earth squished soft beneath my feet.  James and Robert, my two closest brothers, were picking their way through mucky clay to the pond with Charlie Dodd when James slipped and fell.  He grabbed Charlie's leg, and they were both wallowing in the mud.

Charlie scooped up a handful of mud and rubbed it into James's face.  They were laughing as hard as Robert and I were.  Then Robert dove into the fray.  All three of them wrestled and slithered around until they closely resembled the lumps of fudge Mama dropped on wax paper once a year for Christmas. 

I was just standing there when that dumb Charlie Dodd grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.  "No," I screamed, clutching at tufts of grass that pulled right out of the ground in my hands.  My dress slid up, and Charlie rolled over on top of me.

"Leave her alone, Charlie," James said.

But I could take care of myself.  I squirmed away from Charlie and kicked my bare foot as hard as I could at his big nose.  Then I scrambled out of the mud, and stalked off through waist-high grass in the unused portion of the pasture near the road, leaving a trail of mud splatters.

Charlie had no right to treat me like I was one of the boys.  He never would have done that to another girl.  Of course, there were no other girls, and I had long held my own with the neighborhood boys.  But this time it was different.  I wasn't hurt at all, but I was chock full of trembles inside.

Now, Mama was dead serious.  She took me by the shoulders and laid down the law.  "Annie, you will not go anywhere with the boys again."

"But, Mama."

"No buts."  Her piercing blue eyes latched onto mine.  "You will stay at home and be a proper girl."

My life was over!  No more roaming around the woods looking for bird nests or poking under rocks.  No fishing for crawdads in the mud down by the creek or wading over slippery stones in the cool water.  No sliding into home just before the ball reached the catcher.  What would I do without the boys?

Release Date: August 2005
Title: True Friends
Author: Grace E. Howell
ISBN: 1-59080-420-1
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 160
Price: $9.99 US    $10.99 CA     £5.99 UK
Library of Congress Control Number:  2005927262

With TRUE FRIENDS, set in Memphis during World War I, Grace E. Howell tells an engrossing story in which suspicions, rumors, hate--and the Influenza Epidemic--divide neighbors. Family love and steadfast friendships help begin the healing process. TRUE FRIENDS is a well-written, fast-moving historical novel involving people the reader cannot help caring about. Hard to put down, it is a splendid addition to any reading list. (Ages 9 and up)

Isabel Joshlin Glaser, Author/Editor

I thoroughly enjoyed reading True Friends. Character development is the strong suit here, and Grace Howell does a particularly fine job of defining the relationships between characters. Values are built in by contrasting Annie’s family and their German-American friends with the wealthy newcomers. I am a bit jaded as a reader, but I have to admit my eyes were full of tears at what was, for me, a surprise and very sad ending. But Annie had developed enough by then for me to be confident that she would survive and prosper despite difficulties.

Barbara Wallace, Youth Services Librarian
Memphis Public Library and Information Center
Randolph Branch Library

With a nostalgic peek into the past, TRUE FRIENDS is set in the relaxed rural setting of south Memphis in 1918. Annie Davis misses her older brother Richard who joined the army to fight in the Great War in Europe while she was left at home, learning to be a "proper girl," instead of a tomboy. In the midst of Annie's adventures, her community becomes filled with anti-German sentiments and irrational fears which impact her personally. Longing for her previous carefree days of playing with the boys, Annie learns who she can really trust and discovers her true friends. To quote Annie's friend Iris Elizabeth, Annie is "like a starburst in the Fourth of July sky - loud, exciting, and full of surprises." Grace Howell's debut novel delivers on its promise of fun, adventure and discovery. This coming-of-age novel is a must read for girls of all ages.

Genetta Adair, Christian Writer

In True Friends, Grace Howell explores the coming of age of tomboy Annie Davis. Against a background of World War One and the Spanish flu epidemic, a young girl's life is played out. The historical southern setting gives flavor to the universal journey of growing up. All ages will enjoy the trials and triumphs of Anne as she faces old friends and new friends, learning the true meanings of friendship and trust. This is a winner.

Jeri McBryd

Annie Lou Davis lives in Memphis, Tennessee during World War I. Hers was an era before air conditioning or automatic icemakers. Even telephones and cars were unaffordable luxuries for most people. Though there were no such things as electronic games or cell phones, her childhood was full of fun and mischief, playing with her brothers and her only girlfriends, Rose and Della.
In the early twentieth century, acceptable behaviors for boys and girls were distinctly defined. The only girl in a family of brothers, Annie had played with the boys all her life. That is, until her mother decides it’s time for her only daughter to learn how to act like a lady. Now baseball games are replaced by helping her mom in the kitchen. Lazy afternoons of fishing for crawdads in the creek are instead spent canning garden vegetables or other equally distasteful girl responsibilities. Then Iris Elizabeth Robinson moves into the neighborhood. The Robinsons are city-folk from the North and clearly out-class their new rural neighbors. They have a grand piano and own an automobile. Best of all, Iris Elizabeth wants Annie to be her new best friend!
The Robinisons take Annie under their wing and introduce her to silk dresses, fine china, and the theatre. She’s even chauffeured to school with Iris Elizabeth in their new sedan, instead of walking like everyone else in the neighborhood. With her new friend beside her, Annie suddenly gains school popularity and experiences first-hand what it means to be a cultured young lady. However, Iris Elizabeth is a jealous friend and pressures Annie to give up the friendship with her former playmates, even accusing their father of being a German spy. The rumor spreads and soon no one will be friends with Rose and Della anymore, including Annie.
As the war rages on in Europe, a flu epidemic strikes Memphis with unexpected fury. Now, more than ever, Annie must decide what it means to be True Friends. Annie’s simpler world may be foreign to today’s high-tech generation, but the lessons she learns about the harsh realities of life are perhaps even more brutal because of that simplicity. The nature of genuine friendship is timeless. Grace Howell does a wonderful job of portraying that truth through Annie’s life. True Friends allows children to discover for themselves the true character of friendship.

Paula Egner, Bella Online Stepparenting Editor