by
LEILA MEACHAM
Genre: Historical / WWII / Espionage
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Date of Publication: July 9, 2019
Number of Pages: 576
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From the New York Times bestselling author of Roses comes a gripping new novel about five young spies embedded among the highest Nazi ranks in occupied Paris
At the height of World War II, a handful of idealistic young Americans receive a mysterious letter from the government, asking them if they are willing to fight for their country. The men and women from very different backgrounds-a Texan athlete with German roots, an upper-crust son of a French mother and a wealthy businessman, a dirt-poor Midwestern fly fisherman, an orphaned fashion designer, and a ravishingly beautiful female fencer-all answer the call of duty, but each for a secret reason of her or his own. They bond immediately, in a group code-named Dragonfly.
Thus begins a dramatic cat-and-mouse game, as the group seeks to stay under the radar until a fatal misstep leads to the capture and the firing-squad execution of one of their team. But…is everything as it seems, or is this one more elaborate act of spycraft?
PRAISE FOR DRAGONFLY:
“Meacham’s impeccable pacing and razor-wire tension evoke the daily drama of life under a Reich whose French reign might have lasted little more than four years but felt like the thousand years that it threatened to endure.” ―Bookpage
“Meacham’s nail-biting tale will please fans looking for an intricate story of spycraft and deception.” ―Publishers Weekly
“Meacham ratchets the suspense ever tighter, while providing fascinating backstory on the intrepid five [American spies] as well as delivering a detail-rich portrait of Paris during the Occupation.” ―Booklist
“Complex, epic, and rich in historical detail-an uplifting story of finding friendship behind enemy lines.” ― Kirkus
My Two “Careers” as a Published Author
Guest Post by Leila Meacham
In
an interview with Lone Star Literary Life some years ago, I was asked to
share the story of my two “careers” as a published author. My interviewer was
correct to put the word careers in
quotation marks because my first foray into fiction was a brief interruption
of—or intrusion into—my real career, which was teaching. In the mid-eighties I
accepted a bet from a colleague that I could not write a romance novel. She maintained I could and “elevate the
genre,” as she called it. So one summer, I set out to prove her wrong. Lo and
behold, I lost the bet and had to buy her a steak dinner. A local agent, again
at the bidding of my colleague, took a look at the book, offered to represent
it, and popped it off to a publishing house in New York City. Before I knew it,
the book was published as Ryan’s Hand.
There followed two more romances, coerced by the terms of my publisher’s
contract, but when that obligation was fulfilled, I retired my fiction-writing
pen and vowed never to pick it up again.
At
age sixty-five, I had been retired from teaching for ten years and had run out
of everything you wait for retirement to do. I had gardened, traveled,
entertained, volunteered, lunched, tried new recipes, re-decorated the house.
The dog had died. My husband was still involved in his career. We had no
children, thus no grandchildren. One morning as I faced another day of
un-stimulation, I asked God what he wanted me to do with the rest of my life,
and clearly I “heard,” like a fragrance you’re suddenly aware of in a room,
that I was to finish a novel I had dabbled at twenty years earlier during a
year of debilitating illness when I had to take a sabbatical from teaching. I
responded with what all Texans say when they haven’t heard—or don’t want to
hear—something clearly. “Say what?!!” I
said. That was not what I had in mind at all. But one does not argue with
God, so down came the box from the top shelf of my closet, dust and all, and I
plowed into it for over a period of five years, on and off. I intended to put
the book right back on the shelf from whence it came with no thought of going
through the impossible wickets to get it published. However, the Saturday after
I wrote THE END (glorious day!) on the final page of the manuscript, a friend
asked me if I’d finished the book. I
said yes. Monday, she called to say that her niece was married to David
McCormick, a top literary agent in New York City and that she’d instructed her
niece to tell David that he was to take a look at my novel. Long story short,
he did and accepted it for representation.
After several months of making the revisions he suggested, he submitted
it to various publishers and Grand Central Publishing made a pre-emptive bid
for the book now known as Roses. I
was seventy years old when it was released. I am eighty years old now, and
since Roses, I have published five more books.
—————————————–
GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY! GIVEAWAY!
TWO SIGNED COPIES OF DRAGONFLY
August 7-17, 2019
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The Page Unbound 
I loved the story about deciding to tackle that twenty-year-old manuscript! You’ve reconfirmed my belief that one should never toss any writing.
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