The Forgotten Diaries of Trudy Mansfield

The Forgotten Diaries of Trudy Mansfield recounts a young woman’s coming of age in Los Angeles during the Second World War. The story also reveals the impact her teenage diaries have on her granddaughter who uncovers the notebooks sixty-five years later.On the surface, Trudy’s life appears normal for a girl growing up in the shadow of 1940s golden Hollywood. But her daydreams and fantasies, kept private from others, do not conform to what would be expected of a young lady. Fascinated with ancient Egypt, she teachers herself to read and write hieroglyphs. She does this while excelling in high school and doing her part to win the war by working in a factory making flashlights for the Navy.As she pursues her quest to be something other than a wife or menial employee, Trudy witnesses a friend sent off to an internment camp. The reason: The fellow high school student is an American of Japanese descent. Trudy encounters another prejudice that destroys the one relationship she has that gave her a brief window to break out of the cage of normalcy that surrounds her.Early in the war, Trudy finds her neighborhood transformed into a war zone by the placement of an anti-aircraft battery and giant search lights in the vacant lots surrounding her house. She learns of her German neighbor’s secret-the real reason he and his family came to America. She discovers an unspoken source of family shame. She eventually meets a brave refugee woman who escaped from a Nazi concentration camp and starts a new life in California, an encounter that propels Trudy into a life she never imagined possible…