The Rigel Affair by L. M. Hedrick
The Rigel Affair: Award-Winning Chilling WW2 Thriller Novel with Rip-Roaring Romance
★★★★★ "I love how the author explains in detail all of the main characters' beginnings, interweaving the different stories to skilfully tie them together at the finish... I loved this book! 5-Stars!!" Anthony E. for Readers' Favorite★★★★★ "The Rigel Affair is very highly recommended for its blossoming adventure,relationships, and characters who grow, change, and confront theirworlds." Diane Donovan for Midwest Book Review★★★★★ "Based on a true story, this World War II adventure is the American answer to All The Light We Cannot See. Impeccably written and researched, The Rigel Affair is a big tent book that will appeal to readers from all walks of life. Highly recommended!" Best Thrillers★★★★★ "Hedrick is handing readers a perfect blend of Historical Fiction and Romance! 5-Stars" - Literary Titan Abandoned by his part-Cherokee Ma, Charlie Kincaid escapes servitude with his uncle. He jumps a boxcar, accompanied by his schoolmate Roxy, who is escaping troubles of her own. Charlie becomes a US Navy Diver.Mattie Blanc is from a genteel New Zealand family. But when her brother's friend persuades her to take a ride, it all goes horribly wrong. Desperate, she flees her family's stifling expectations for a new life in Auckland.After the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, Charlie sets sail for Auckland aboard the USS Rigel. And there she is, the girl of his dreams. Mattie is everything that Roxy isn't-- sophisticated, tender, and patient. But the war intervenes... Rigel embarks for the Pacific war zones.Charlie's letters are sporadic. Mattie is tormented by doubts; did he truly love her, or was it only a dream?The Rigel Affair produces a rip-roaring wartime romance and chilling danger unknown to most.
Brilliant Read if you have all day its " A cannot put down" a must read, Review by Nikita7
Well done. I found this an amazing read; every chapter was captivating, inviting and like living the story through your well done written novel. My 82 year old Mother who does not belong to Amazon read it before myself and quoted "If I had all day to read it I would have, I so enjoyed the description of the people and the places, excellent read."
War and romance – a view from the deck, Review by Grady Harp
New Zealand author L.M. (Lynette) Hedrick has pieced together a fictionalized novel gathered from her mother Mattie’s WW II love affair with a US Navy diver Charlie and the result is a wartime love story that works on every level. Written in conjunction with her husband Bud’s editorial/advisory eye, based on fact and painted with the eloquence of an informed ‘war correspondent’ THE RIGEL AFFAIR blossoms as a fine love story with a credible setting. Both Lynette and Bud have studied creative writing at Auckland University. Lynette has published short stories for New Zealand magazines as well as pursing her gifts as an expressionist artist whose art works sell internationally.
Lynette offers the following insights about this novel – ‘Our journey to this novel started with my husband Bud's idea and encouragement and endless efforts and support to write it. The next stop was Auckland's Central Library to harvest every account of1940's history, especially daily newspapers. We had to know what Mattie knew. Thank you to New Zealand National Archives, and the fabulous museums in Auckland, Devonport, and Torpedo Bay Navy Museum. Additional pertinent Auckland historical information was supplied by Dale Court of George Courts, and Edward Bennett of the K Road Business Association.’
The manner in which the book opens invites association with Charlie, especially significant for American readers. ‘Whenever Charlie caught a moment, he snuck aside his clothes, and dropped them behind the bushes down by the railings of he old bridge below the farmhouse in Falkner, Mississippi. It was the summer of 1937. He liked to watch the murky Muddy Creek waters ripple in the sunlight and bend their way towards town. Charlie waited for the wind to settle, just to catch tat safe glimpse of the bottom in his favorite swimming hole….His impoverished Ma could not provide for him so when he escaped from the fire at Jackson orphanage in 1927, her sister and Uncle Dee had taken him in.’ Charlie’s history begins to develop and move to the war. But Lynette introduces Mattie in a similar fashion: ’It was summer and any hint of war didn’t deter the gaiety of the Blanc family’s celebrations. Their huge white villa was positioned on the crest of Pine Hill Road, Dunedin, New Zealand, deep in the South Pacific…Mattie walked down the passageway to the sound of George thumping on the piano. Mattie was a gentle soul, of slender build, in her late twenties…’
Mood established, style of prose is set and we move into the well-distilled plot summary – ‘Abandoned by his part-Cherokee Ma, Charlie Kincaid escapes servitude with his uncle. He jumps a boxcar, accompanied by his schoolmate Roxy, who is escaping troubles of her own. Charlie becomes a US Navy Diver. Mattie Blanc is from a genteel New Zealand family. But when her brother’s friend persuades her to take a ride, it all goes horribly wrong. Desperate, she flees her family’s stifling expectations for a new life in Auckland. After the 1941 Pearl Harbor attack, Charlie sets sail for Auckland aboard the USS Rigel. And there she is, the girl of his dreams. Mattie is everything that Roxy isn’t—sophisticated, tender, and patient. But the war intervenes… Rigel embarks for the Pacific war zones. Charlie’s letters are sporadic. Mattie is tormented by doubts; did he truly love her, or was it only a dream? ‘
The novel offers a fine examination of disparate characters in wartime and the effect of family on finding love. Painted in brilliant colors THE RIGEL AFFAIR glows – the work of a very fine author with a solid future. Grady Harp, February 19
The Rigel Affair Is a Fully-Realized, Lovingly-Written World War II Romance Novel, Review by Richard Merli
Given the recent strong interest in historical and fictional accounts of World War II, L.M. Hedrick’s new novel, The Rigel Affair, appears to have arrived on the market at the perfect time.
The Rigel Affair is an impeccably drawn account of a wartime romance between Charlie Kincaid, a part-Cherokee American, and Mattie Blanc, a genteel and polished young woman in Auckland, New Zealand. What makes their story all the more remarkable is that Ms. Hedrick and her husband and editor, Bud, an American, drew upon 30 letters from Charlie to Mattie, L.M. Hedrick’s mother, to recreate the details of this love affair set against the background of war in the South Pacific. They also conducted extensive research to ground the story firmly in the theater and intense action of World War II.
Hedrick’s story spans continents and years and yet manages to feel lived-in and alive with the thrill of romance and the heartache of separation caused by war. World War II is what brings Charlie and Mattie together, yet it is also what separates them. Hedrick recreates the finer details of the romantic story, while her husband, Bud, a former U.S. Coast Guardsman, provides us with an inside look inside U.S. naval vessels. Their inside knowledge further grounds a story now 75 years old in authenticity.
The characters are finely drawn and shaded and placed in striking settings. The arc of Hedrick’s narrative takes us back in time to another era and yet manages to bring that era alive and make it sound fresh with elegant prose. The various strands of her characters’ beginnings and history are all skillfully woven together. The result is a seamless, lovingly written narrative.
We meet Charlie during his period of servitude on a farm in the American South. Soon he hops a boxcar and enters the U.S. Navy. He trains as a Navy diver and, soon after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, sets sail for Auckland, New Zealand, aboard the U.S.S. Rigel. In Auckland, he meets the girl of his dreams, Mattie, a tender and romantic young woman. Charlie is forced to leave Auckland to answer the call of battle in the South Pacific. His separation from Mattie is captured in the desperate ache and longing of the letters exchanged between them.
To say more about the romance of Charlie and Mattie would be to spoil the story. It suffices to say that war is what brought them together, and war is what set them apart. But this is a poignant and powerful romance, rendered in beautiful detail every step of the way. And, even if war separates them, love will have its way with Charlie and Mattie.
Richard Merli