Colorado authors pen books on French baguettes, Nazi resistance and UFOs

“After Anne,” by Logan Steiner (William Morrow)

Colorado author Logan Steiner writes that as a girl, she loved “Anne of Green Gables.” So later, after she learned about the life of its author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, she decided the children’s book author was ripe for a novel.

Maud, as the author was known to her friends, was extraordinarily successful as a writer, but she lived a sad and difficult life. Her closest friend and only confidante died as a young woman. Her minister-husband became mentally ill early in their marriage and never recovered, leaving Maud to support the family. One son was a bounder. Maud herself was far from happy and committed suicide.

Not exactly the life led by Anne of Green Gables.

As a young woman, Maud knew she would be a writer. She kept journals and sold what were called “Sunday-school stories,” but was determined to write novels. She considered her writing as important as her marriage. That was hardly acceptable in the early 20th century, and Maud’s husband was not supportive of her career. In fact, his inability to accept his wife’s success might have contributed to his mental illness. That was a heavy burden for the author to carry, with less sympathy than she would have drawn from today’s readers.

In “After Anne,” Steiner draws heavily on Maud’s 11 journals, which Maud rewrote and sometimes razored pages out of, to Steiner’s disappointment and ours. Much of the book centers on Maud’s 1907 birthday, a happy time in a story that is not always pretty.

“The Road to Roswell,” by B. Connie Willis (Del Rey)

Francie is in Roswell, N.M., to attend her friend’s wedding as maid of honor. Since you know what Roswell’s famous for, it’s no surprise that Francie is abducted by an alien, a tumbleweed-shaped ball of tentacles like whips. She calls him Indy, short for Indiana Jones, and eventually finds him endearing. Who wouldn’t love a creature that can engineer a car so it doesn’t need fuel?

One of Indy’s tentacles secures Francie’s wrist to the steering wheel of a car, while another points north. Francie figures Indy is looking for his spaceship, so she complies. On the way, they pick up Wade, a hitchhiker who claims he sells insurance policies to UFO nuts, paying them if they are abducted by space invaders. They’re joined by Lyle, a UFO believer, gambler Eula Mae and Joseph, a Western movie buff. As Indy learns to communicate, he says he wants to go to “tsurrispoinis,” which the others believe is where his spaceship is tethered. “This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a ride home,” Francie thinks in this quirky novel.

The jolly crew travels back and forth at Indy’s direction, until they land in Las Vegas. There, things get sticky as the vagabonds are faced with the capture of Indy by the feds.

Colorado author Connie Willis is known for her science-fiction tales. “The Road to Roswell” is an amusing story, but it’s also a lesson for today’s world by underscoring the importance of accepting and even loving those who are different.

“To Die Beautiful,” by Buzzy Jackson (Dutton)

“To Die Beautiful” is a stunning novel, based on the life of World War II Dutch Resistance fighter Hannie Schaft. Written by Colorado author Buzzy Jackson, the book tells of the young Dutch woman who begins her opposition to the Nazis by stealing identification cards and delivering underground newspapers.

When Hannie’s two Jewish friends fear they’ll be arrested and sent to a concentration camp, Hannie ups her opposition to the Nazis by hiding her friends in a bedroom of her parents’ home, then joining the Resistance. She becomes an assassin, sometimes wearing mascara and lipstick to attract victims who she kills at point-blank range. Known as “The Girl With Red Hair,” Hannie becomes a prime target of the Nazis, all the way up to Hitler. She’s forced to dye her hair and wear disguises to keep from being captured.

“To Die Beautiful” is a compelling novel that turns a national hero into a flesh-and-blood woman who smokes cigarettes, adores her parents, falls in love and murders Nazis.

“A Bakery in Paris,” by Aimie K. Runyan (William Morrow)

Mention French food and you can’t help but think of bread. Today, nutritionists may take a dim view of bread, but following the Franco-Prussian War and World War II, it was the staff of life to the French.

In dual tales set some 75 years apart, Colorado author Aimie K. Runyan, author of “The School for German Brides,” tells the love stories of two French women who operate a bakery in war-torn France.

Lisette is a wealthy young woman whose domineering mother betrothes her to an upper-class dolt. Unbeknownst to the mother, Lisette has fallen in love with Theo, a French revolutionary. Lisette cannot bring herself to go through with the wedding and runs off and marries Theo. When times turn tough, Lisette opens a bakery, using recipes taught to her by the family cook.