Goodreads asked Viola Russell:

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

Viola Russell Most of my historical novels have deep roots in family history. I wrote about WWI and WWII because of tales I heard around the dinner table growing up. My dad was a young man during Prohibition and The Depression. My novel "Jude Mooney" is loosely based on his experience. My mother was younger than my dad. Her brothers fought in WWII. One of her brothers didn't come back from Germany. I wrote "Love at War" based on her stories of that tumultuous time in our history. "The Progeny" is a sequel to "Jude Mooney," and I wrote it because I left readers hanging in "Jude." The Mooney family also stayed in my mind and heart. They had more to say. I'm currently working on the third book in that series. The contemporary fiction is based on current events or what I know of the life of teachers.

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