In The Sound of Caissons, Julia Crockett's relentless quest to excel is revealed as the story of five generations of an Army family unfolds through the first three-quarters of 20th century America. At age six Julia imagines growing up to be a general, like Fort Sill's post commander. When she shares this with her beloved grandfather, a retired major, he informs her girls can't be soldiers. Years later, her father forbids her joining the WAAC at the outset of WWII, and she decides the only way to achieve the position and power she desires is to marry an ambitious lieutenant and ride his coattails. But shortly after a hasty marriage to Lt. Robert Wells, she meets Lt. David Morgan, and realizes she's made a dreadful mistake. With a world in turbulence, it's six years before Julia and David are free to marry. Although she loves him deeply, Julia's insatiable yearning for status becomes apparent as she attempts to guide David's career. A man with his own objectives, however, David does not always fall in with her plans. At the same time, Julia continually urges their four children to follow in the footsteps of their military ancestors. Through triumph, tragedy, and infidelity, the Morgan family serves from the U.S. to Tehran, to Berlin, and back again. The children become adults, and the men weather America's conflicts in Korea and Vietnam. Eventually David's patience with Julia's singular determination to see him with stars on his epaulets and their sons as West Point cadets, wears thin. Is the extraordinary love Julia and David share for each other strong enough to survive their conflicting visions? Filled with passion and engaging characters, this thought provoking family saga will keep you turning pages. It is not merely a love story. Kirkus Indie had this to say: This multigenerational epic follows heroine Julia Crockett's journey from tomboy Army brat to military wife and beyond, from the Great Depression through Vietnam. "I want to be a general's wife," oft-abrasive Julia commands her colonel husband. Fortunately, Semsch's deft depiction of the preteen who dreams of being a soldier nearly 50 years before women are allowed to do so provides enough context to Julia's harsh manner and choices that the reader can't help but wait and hope for her aha moment. The appeal of Semsch's novel is evident at the end when, knowing great changes lie ahead for the nation and its soldiers, the reader can't help wondering how Julia Crockett will confront them.
About the Author: Suzanne Hadfield Semsch has been writing both personally and professionally for many years. For over a decade she was responsible for composing and producing magazines, newsletters and promotional material for a private boarding school. She researched and wrote the military history chapter in Westmoreland County, Virginia's tricentennial commemorative book, and her nonfiction articles have appeared in historical magazines. Her lifelong interest in literature and history led to extensive research that resulted in the 2009 publication of her first novel, The Lees of Menokin, based on the life and times of Francis Lightfoot Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. In The Sound of Caissons, also historical fiction, the author has drawn on her life experience as the daughter and wife of career Army officers to establish authentic time and place. She has lived in Europe and thirteen states, including Alaska when it was still a territory, and presently resides in Charlottesville, Virginia, in the forty-seventh house she has called home. Website: http: //suzannesemsch.com