Clare Bills
Clare considers herself a “nearly normal writer.” She admits some eccentricity and has made it her New Year’s resolution every year to foster this quality. She says it’s going swimmingly.
Her early memories were of her mother reading the “All of a Kind” series to the first five girls born in rapid succession. Eventually her parents had eight daughters and they remain Clare’s closest friends.
Clare’s been married longer than most readers have been alive, however she can still remember her first kiss, her first batch of chocolate chip cookies, and a two-piece crimson swimsuit with pineapples on the butt. She and her hubby raised three amazing kids who rewarded them with seven grandchildren and even a tiny great-grandchild. They are eternally grateful for each of them.
She’s the author of two historical novels based on true stories. Mountains of Trouble was published in 2020, and the sequel, Mending Helen’s Heart, was published in 2021.
Her first book with Midwestern Books, Stay Out of That Room, is available now.
If you’d like to be included in Clare’s newsletter list to learn updates about her next book and free book giveaways, please email clarebills@live.com.
She occasionally blogs at www.clarebills.com where there are dozens of recipes and updates about her books.
The Stories Behind
Stay Out of That Room!
The hundred-year-old connection between World War I and Stay Out of That Room!—a well-worn trunk that has a place in both worlds.
This is the actual travel trunk my Great Aunt Clare Louise used in France during WWI to assist the Red Cross with translations. I'm her namesake, so having this trunk is a special connection. Inside, there's a pullout shelf and a deep space for clothes—think about traveling for three months with just what fits in here.
In my novel, Stay Out of That Room, the girls discover a similar trunk in Great Aunt Polly's secret room. Although the story is fiction, the narrative is based on real people like Polly and Clare, cousins who lived through two World Wars and the Great Depression. This trunk is my link to their shared pasts.
My parents lost me in a crowd at Loring Park in Minneapolis when I was very young. Luckily for me, there was an event happening with Clarabelle the clown who was on a stage with a microphone. The person who found me handed me to Clarabelle, who hoisted me up for the crowd to see and announced that I was looking for my parents. My embarrassed mother must have decided after that to dress us alike in public so she could spot us more easily. (In her defense, she had the first five of us in less than seven years.)
Here we are on the fourth of July in 1960 in front of the giant flag outside our Great Aunt Polly’s summer home on Lake Minnetonka. I’m the awkward child third from left. Two more little girls would be added to the fold in coming years.
