Joan La Blanc – författare

To World War Two battlefield casualties evacuated from bloody Pacific beachheads to the clean white beds of hospital ships, the Navy nurses who care for them seem angels indeed. For young war widow Ensign Anna Donovan, however, the unrelenting stresses of this duty soon begin to chip away at her morale, eventually revealing a side of her that is anything but angelic. Far from family, friends and fiancé, she's horrified to find herself drawn to Mark Whitmore, a charismatic but married chaplain.Eventually her need for respite from the endless stream of young men torn apart in this enormous conflict overrides both her principles and her loyalty to Jim, back home in Maine. As the war winds down, she soothes her conscience by rationalizing that all that really matters is that she performed her duty steadfastly and honorably. The rest - the private, personal falls from grace - will fade when she resumes her interrupted civilian life with the man she truly loves. Or is this a delusion? When she leaves USS Compassion, the friends she served with, and the chaplain who shared her passion, will she really find that bright post-war future so many young men died to win for her?JOAN LA BLANC began writing fiction during her childhood in Philadelphia. While she set this addiction aside to raise four children, it later enabled her to survive marriages to two career Navy men and one with Alzheimer's. Now, in her "e;golden years"e;, it continues to offer romance, travel, and the adventures of an international spy without the associated dangers. After a "e;real"e; career as a PR and non-fiction writer, she crafts circumspect prose for church publications between visits to the various parallel universes that provide her greatest inspiration and creative fulfillment. These include the Anna Donovan books, MINISTRY OF ANGELS, ODYSSEY OF ANGELS, and Joan's concluding volumes, ORDINARY ANGELS and LUCKY IN LOVE.

MINISTRY OF ANGELS is the second of a series of four carefully researched and beautifully written historical romances about young nurse Anna Donovan. It begins just after her Navy husband is lost at sea early in World War Two. In October, 1943, after the loss of both her Navy officer husband and the baby they were expecting, 25-year old widow Anna Donovan leaves her parents' New Hampshire home to work as resident nurse on a remote, isolated island off the coast of Maine. Hoping to find new purpose for her life, she moves into an old hotel operated by Jean Cropper, a troubled young woman with her own history of serious loss. Their fragile friendship grows even shakier when a German U-boat blows up offshore and Jean becomes involved with a fugitive enemy sailor. Meanwhile, Anna is increasingly attracted to Jim Millett, the crippled doctor she works for, but with no expectation he'll ever share her passion. Tragedy briefly draws them together, but soon dashes her hopes of ever winning his love. Caught up in an old pattern of retreat from painful situations, she leaves the island to volunteer for the Navy Nurse Corps. But the past will follow her even to war. What exactly is Anna Donovan searching for? And will she ever return to Hope Island?

ORDINARY ANGELS, the concluding novel in a series about young nurse Anna Donovan, begins with Anna's homecoming at the end of World War II. Though still caught up in recollections of her hospital-ship romance with Chaplain Mark Whitmore, she jumps into marriage to Dr. Jim Millett, to whom she was engaged before she joined the Navy. Yet even as her plans come to fruition, the shadows of her past darken this wonderful new life. Forced to confront the ghosts of former losses, Anna suffers a breakdown that threatens to rob her of everything she holds dear. Eventually, however, she learns the painful lessons she's avoided before, and embraces the future with a new sense of the love and fulfillment it promises.ABOUT THE AUTHOR JOAN LA BLANC began writing fiction during her childhood in Philadelphia. While she set this addiction aside to raise four children, it later enabled her to survive marriages to two career Navy men and one with Alzheimer's. Now, in her "e;golden years"e;, it continues to offer romance, travel, and the adventures of an international spy without the associated dangers. After a "e;real"e; career as a PR and non-fiction writer, she crafts circumspect prose for church publications between visits to the various parallel universes that provide her greatest inspiration and creative fulfillment. These include the Anna Donovan novels, INNOCENCE OF ANGELS, MINISTRY OF ANGELS, ODYSSEY OF ANGELS, LUCKY IN LOVE, and the concluding volume, ORDINARY ANGELS.

INNOCENCE OF ANGELS is the first in a linked four-volume series of carefully researched and beautifully written historical romances about young nurse Anna Donovan's life before, during, and after World War Two. The second volume, MINISTRY OF ANGELS, follows Anna to the Maine coast after her husband is missing in action, presumed killed, early in World War Two. ODYSSEY OF ANGELS takes her deep into the hell of the Pacific War as an ensign nurse aboard USS Compassion, a Navy hospital ship. ORDINARY ANGELS follows her return to marriage, civilian life, and a measure of peace. In Spring, 1941, as war looms closer, young Anna Moss's life seems on course for a secure, comfortable future. Not only does she have a good job as a nurse in a naval hospital, she's engaged to a promising young writer who shares her values of diligence, thrift and moderation in all things. Then she meets Dan Donovan, a new patient on her ward. Intrigued by this handsome but brash young submarine officer, she's challenged to experience more of life than she's previously dared. Eventually unable to resist his charms, she's caught up in a wartime world where the romance is heady, the risks great and the realities stark. Yet even as she faces loss, sorrow and an uncertain future, she's comforted by the knowledge that she's followed her dreams into a love deeper and richer than she ever imagined. A love too good to last, perhaps, but one she'll never forget, with a man she'll remember forever.

A T 4 PM ON A HOLIDAY WEEKEND IN 1943, the Pennsylvania Railroad's premier express departs Washington's Union Station for a high-speed run to Penn Station in New York City. Among the 541 passengers in its sixteen coaches are a disillusioned war widow and a Navy submarine officer on route to an exciting new duty. Over the next hours, these strangers discover they share not only adjoining seats but the same final destination—Portsmouth, New Hampshire—and an intriguing attraction. As the Congressional Limited barrels into  Philadelphia, however, Fate intervenes to tear them apart and change their lives in ways neither could have foreseen.Based on an actual event, Lucky in Love explores the challenges this couple faces in the aftermath of that eventful journey. Thoroughly researched and richly detailed, this is the latest in Joan La Blanc's series of engaging historical romances backgrounded by World War II.