Goodreads asked Loretta Ellsworth:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Loretta Ellsworth My new novel STARS OVER CLEAR LAKE comes out in 2017 from Thomas Dunne Books. It was inspired by my parents, who met at the Surf Ballroom, and the little-known history of POWs in Iowa. My story is about an Iowa farm girl named Lorraine, whose beloved brother is away at war during WWII. She falls for a German POW sent to work on her family’s farm, against the wishes and beliefs of her mother, her town, and her community. When her German soldier is sent back overseas, she becomes engaged to her high school sweetheart and tries to forget him, but after the end of the war she sees him at the Surf Ballroom working as a saxophone player.

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