Utah author Dean Hughes’ 102nd published book, titled “Home and Away: A World War II Christmas Story” (Shadow Mountain, $16.99), is now on shelves, and the manuscript for No. 103 has been turned in.
If anything, the writing process has gotten harder, Hughes said.
“I know more how many things can go wrong,” he said. He hasn’t stuck to any one niche of books since his first book was released in 1979. His books range in audience from beginning and middle grade readers to adults, and they vary in genre, including sports, historical fiction, humor and nonfiction.
He’s had books that haven’t sold very well and others that he didn’t quite feel right about.
“I want to get it right now,” said Hughes, 72, who had back surgery last winter. It has been more difficult for him to sit at a computer for longer periods of time to write.
“If I’m not careful, I fall into formulas,” said Hughes, adding that each author has his or her own way of writing about certain things. “You don’t want all of your books to sound the same.”
Story at ‘Home’
“Home and Away: A World War II Christmas Story” is his first book specifically about Christmastime. The 176-page novel started out as a short story based on an experience from his own life.
“Home and Away” centers on the Hayes family living in Ogden in 1944. Money is tight as the Thanksgiving holiday gives way to Christmas. Glen is away fighting in Europe in World War II, and his teenage brother, Dennis, is determined to help make Christmas nice for his family, especially his mother, Norma. Dennis and his father’s relationship is rocky, but Dennis still approaches him about going in on a present for Norma — a new dress.
Dennis takes the money from his father, plus some of what he’s saved, and sees a dress in a store window. When he asks about it, it’s well out of his budget. After asking him a few questions about his family, the saleswoman comes down on the price so he can buy it.
“For a little book, there’s some really complex kinds of emotions in it,” Hughes said. “This son wants to be proud of his dad and wants to like his dad but feels a lot of shame about his dad’s behavior.”
He also explores the story of the clerk and why she helped Dennis.
In Hughes’ family as he was growing up, his father didn’t pay too much attention to Christmas, but his mother did.
One year in the 1950s, his father handed him some money and asked him to get something for his mother. He went to J.C. Penney and saw a navy blue dress that he wanted to get her, but it was out of his price range. The saleswoman showed him other dresses. Hughes recalls how the saleswoman suddenly came down in price so he could buy it, but he never found out why.
“I remember going out of there thinking that she either lowered the price for me or maybe used some of her own money so I could get it,” Hughes said. “I think that she liked me and wanted me to get this gift for my mother and she did this for me.”
Hughes said his mother loved that dress and knew from the moment she opened it that it was her son who picked it out.
“I’ve always held on to that memory,” Hughes said.
In the novel, he explores why the saleswoman would have helped.
“But that’s all from my imagination,” he said.
‘Away’ during WWII
Hughes had previously done some research on the Battle of the Bulge, which was fought at Christmastime, for his Children of the Promise series.
“I always wondered what it was like on the homefront for a family to have a son in the Battle of the Bulge,” he said, adding that he was drawn to the experiences of those who were in Bastogne, Belgium, as those troops were surrounded.
“They would be in the war, surrounded by the enemy and not knowing what would come of that,” Hughes said.
He moved his personal Christmas story back to the 1940s and added the older brother who was away fighting in Europe “and all of this worry about this big brother who is gone.”
He added in the perspective of the brother, Glen, from the front lines of the war, at the suggestion of his editor.
“That’s why it’s ‘Home and Away’; it does take place in Ogden (with the family), and it also takes place in Belgium where the Battle of the Bulge was fought,” Hughes said.
Hughes wanted to create connections between the two perspectives. Norma Hayes wore lavender water, and while in Holland, Glen finds a sprig of lavender and it reminds him of home.
“I tried to make it hopeful and that some good things happen in the end in these relationships,” he said.
A personal touch
The story was an emotional one for Hughes to write as his own experience serves as the basis for aspects of the novel, including the relationship of the father and son.
“I went back and probed feelings about my father and about my mother and father’s relationship that I’ve known all my life but hadn’t looked at as carefully as I did went I wrote this,” he said. “It really moved me over and over again.”
Hughes said that his father was a good, hard-working man who had some addictions and weaknesses.
“I always longed for my dad to show love, but he didn’t know how,” Hughes said.
Though many of the details have been changed in “Home and Away,” Hughes said, “there’s an awful lot of myself in it.”
Writing it proved to be more complex than he expected. He based it on the previously written short story and figured he would expand the short story. However, because of some structure changes based on the advice of his wife, Kathy, and his editors, “it was almost like writing a new book.”
It took more than a dozen rewrites, but he’s pleased with the result.
No. 103
Book No. 103 is also set during World War II and focuses on the experiences of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team of Japanese-American soldiers who fought for the United States in Europe.
About two-thirds were from Hawaii, and a third of them had lived in internment camps, including the Topaz camp near Delta in Millard County, Utah, which is where Hughes’ characters are from.
“Those young men wanted to prove their loyalty, and so they signed up and joined the Army,” Hughes said, adding that the team was one of the most decorated units that fought in World War II.
The book is targeted at young adults and scheduled to be published through Simon and Schuster in the fall.
Celebrating Christmas
As empty nesters, the Hugheses are simplifying the decorating of their Midway home, but they still love celebrating the season with their family.
“I love Christmas, and I think that came from my mother because she loved Christmas so much,” Hughes said. Now, the Hugheses look forward to their children and grandchildren coming home to visit them.
As they celebrate Christmas, they are also looking at another unique family situation. Hughes served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany, and his son, Tom, also served there. Now, Tom’s son has received a mission call, and the mission includes where his father served.
Dean Hughes spent three Christmases in Germany as a missionary, as he served for 2½ years, and he recalls the days of celebrations and eating.
“The Germans love Christmas, and they do it completely,” he said. “The members would make us so happy and have us eating and eating.”
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