By James FitzPatrick
Contributing Writer
When America entered World War I, Cape May was on the front line.
With shipping under constant threat from German U-boat attacks, the strategically located Cape May became home to an important Naval base and training center. America’s First Resort was suddenly at the vanguard of the war effort at home.
This compelling moment in local history serves as the backdrop for “Thicker Than Water,” a new historical romance novel by South Jersey writer Laura Quinn, and the first installment of a trilogy.
“When America entered the war in April 1917, the Navy built a base and training barracks that housed, at the time, the largest blimp hangar in the world,” said Quinn, referring to what is now the U.S. Coast Guard Training Center. “The Army was here, too. They utilized the Hotel Cape May, which readers may remember better as the former Christian Admiral, as a hospital.”
Set in the tension of a seaside city getting ready for war, “Thicker Than Water,” is a story of improbable romance, set amid the class differences of the summertime retreat for wealthy Philadelphians.
“Danny’s been in love with his childhood sweetheart, Jennie Martin – a wealthy cottager from Philadelphia – for as long as he can remember while her cousin, Hugh, is smitten with (Danny’s) sister,” states the official book summary “As the foursome struggles to surmount the class differences between them, the nation is plunged into World War I, changing all of their lives forever.”
Siblings Danny and Shannon Culligan live with their fisherman/alcoholic father, while Jennie Martin and Hugh Callaway are in the lap of luxury summering on the Jersey Cape.
“The narrative follows the lives of two very different couples through what can best be described as ‘Titanic’ meets ‘Boardwalk Empire’,” Quinn told Shore Local News.“There’s a grit to my characters. It’s a story for the underdogs. The invisible and broken. It’s for anyone who’s felt that, no matter how hard they tried, they’d never be good enough.”
The first-time novelist said she poured two years of research into the book before she started writing, gathering details to describe what the city and people looked and acted like a century ago.
The result is a story that’s just as interesting for being a time capsule as it is for the compelling characters it creates.
“The trilogy is, essentially, my love letter to our region,” she said. “It was written to capture the nostalgia of yesteryear, and appeals best to Gen-Xers and Boomers in the greater Philadelphia metropolitan area. People who, like myself, grew up going down the shore every summer and currently enjoy the beaches and boards with their own families.”
From that research work the reader is rewarded, learning the origin of the term shoobies, the story of shark attacks that terrorized the Jersey coast in the summer of 1916, and the crazed shark hunt that followed.
There are stories of espionage, and references to familiar Cape May street names. Even The Cape May Star and Wave newspaper is part of the story.
Readers are transported back to the time when Philadelphia was the “Workshop of the World,” and taken to such well-known locales as Reading Terminal Market, the Bellevue-Stratford, and the eagle at the Wanamaker building.
Quinn, who is a first-tIme novelist, said she is pleased with the book’s reception so far, with 4.7 stars out of 5 on Amazon.
“I couldn’t be happier,” Quinn said. “The book had a very successful virtual tour and has received numerous editorial recommendations.
“I’ve also got several podcasts, book club appearances, and library speaking engagements scheduled through October, with more to come in the near future.
As to the sequels, Book 2 is half written and she hopes to release it in the summer of 2023.
It starts off three years later with the return of an old “frenemy,” an event that serves as the catalyst for the rest of the series.
Book 3 is outlined with an eye toward launching in 2024.
Laura Quinn, 43, resides in Williamstown with her husband and two children. When not writing, she enjoys hiking, the beach, and spending time with her family.
The full-time author holds a bachelor of arts degree in criminal justice from Rutgers University. She was an insurance fraud investigator and a legal liaison in the appellate division at a Philadelphia life-insurer.
The book is 480 pages. It costs $20.99 in paperback and $4.99 as an ebook
Learn more at lauraqinnwrites.com.
