Even a failed, three-way collaboration and later a manuscript’s rejection didn’t scare this journalist away from storytelling.

Over lunch, Dallas and two friends plotted, divided up and crafted characters for a book later abandoned when their day jobs got in the way.

Later the fledgling novelist resurrected and rewrote a post-college manuscript only to receive the dreaded rejection letter from her agent.

Hooked on fiction, Dallas persevered eventually producing Buster Midnight’s Cafe, an end-of-depression look at the hell-roaring days of coal mining in Butte, Montana.

Steeped in history from an early age, Dallas covered the Rocky Mountain region as a staff writer and the first female bureau chief for Business Week magazine.

Schooled  daily in Virginia’s past by her mother, Dallas and her siblings toured Washington’s Mount Vernon and Arlington House, residence of Robert E. Lee as children.

But a 1945 move to Denver opened up the west for a writer who never ventured  back east again.

Subjects ranging from copper mining in Butte, Montana, and polygamy in Utah, to the role of women in business and sexual harassment provided future background for Dallas’ fiction dominated by female characters.

The Chili Queen

Set in Nalgitas, New Mexico, in the 1860s, The Chili Queen follows the life of Addie French, a con artist turned madam.

Returning by train from Kansas City, Addie befriends a prim and proper lady traveling west as a mail-order bride.  But when Emma, the spinster, is jilted, she seeks refuge in Addie’s ‘boarding house’ and life at the brothel is never the same again.

This psychological thriller cum detective story takes the reader on horseback through the plains of New Mexico and Colorado as the con men/women try to out run the person they swindled.   Through Dallas’ words, one can feel the wide open spaces and sniff the sweet-smelling air of the old west.

Tallgrass

Just after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed an act forcing all of  California’s Japanese Americans into internment camps.

When Dallas’ pen hits paper, this relocation to Tall Grass (Amache) produces an  fearful atmosphere ripe with paranoia in Ellis Colorado,  a small town of sugar beet farmers.

From the viewpoint of Rennie Stroud, 13, the reader watches as the bigoted townspeople heap blame on the nearby Japanese when a crippled girl is found brutally murdered and raped.

Often compared to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, Tall Grass highlights the struggle of the dirt-poor farmers in the sparsely populated southeast town of Granada.

Discussion questions can be found here.

The Diary of Mattie Spenser

In the post-civil war era, the stigma of being a spinster compels Mattie to accept an impromptu marriage proposal and accompany her new husband by wagon train to the western territories.

While Luke battles to shape the frontier into a homestead, the lone female endures hardship, frugality, betrayal, infant mortality and drought along with the constant threat of Indian attack.

In Mattie, Dallas gives us a woman of courage and faith in the treeless, inhospitable landscape of Eastern Colorado.

Don’t forget the Persian Pickle Club, another Sandra Dallas favorite.

A list of nonfiction titles can be found here.  Fictional titles here:

Often termed sentimental, Berg draws an accurate picture of grief – “the doubts, the dailiness, the decisions, the daring to dream again”.

While some reviewers feel that Berg has a tendency to write scenes that are a little bit far fetched with predictable textbook characters, they still praise her eye for detail, simplicity, and beauty.

Two people, having read the same book, can come away with opposite opinions of its characters, plot and setting.  I suggest you decide for yourself by sampling one or more of Berg’s books listed below.  Happy reading!!

Durable Goods
(1993), 12-year-old Katie, struggles with the loss of her mother while  being dragged from town to town by her abusive father.

Discussion Questions here.

Talk Before Sleep
(1994),  a nurse caring for a good friend slowly dying with cancer.

Discussion Questions here.

Range of Motion
(1995), deals with the experiences of a comatose man

Discussion Questions here.

The Pull of the Moon
(1996),  Nan’s story, as she travels cross-country seeking to reinvent herself.

Joy School
(1997), a continuation of Katie’s story, as she tastes romance for the first time.

Discussion questions here:

What We Keep
(1998), a girl’s abandonment by her mother.

Discussion Questions here:

Until the Real Thing Comes Along
(1999),  a woman’s love for a gay man.

Discussion Questions here:

Open House
(2000),  after the departure of her husband and a spending spree at Tiffany’s, Sam  must  reconstruct a life for herself and11-year old son

Discussion questions here.

Never Change
(2001), a nurse treats a childhood acquaintance with an incurable illness.

True to Form
(2002), a revisit with Katie’s during the coming of age process.

Say When
(2003), the damaging effects of infidelity on the marriage of Ellen and Griffin written from the husband’s  point-of-view.

The Art of Mending
(2004), a family reunion forces a 50-something “quilt artist”  to face some long-standing secrets.

Discussion questions here.

The Year of Pleasures
(2005), a Boston widow fulfills her dying husband’s dream of starting a new life in the Midwest.

Discussion Questions here:

We Are All Welcome Here
(2006), together a polio victim and her 13-year-old daughter work miracles in the summer of 1964

Discussion Questions here.

The Handmaid and the Carpenter
(2006), inexperienced teenagers, Mary and Joseph, struggle to honor family tradition despite unusual circumstances.

Dream When You’re Feeling Blue
(2007), three Irish Catholic sisters keep the home fires burning for their young men fighting in WWII.

Discussion Questions here.

Home Safe (2009), suffering from writer’s block,  a popular and prolific author struggles with her husband’s sudden death.

Discussion Questions here:

The Last Time I Saw You
(2010), former classmates reconnect with one another—and themselves—at their fortieth high school reunion.

Which is your favorite and why?

A scene from one of those campy 1940s spy movies filmed entirely in black and white?

Not for some of the 4,500 women who actively engaged in espionage work for the OSS during WWII.

Josephine Baker

Spying for her adopted country of France, Josephine Baker personally carried confidential information throughout Europe.

Blinded by her stardom, passport checkers never once guessed that the famed entertainer’s sheet music carried secrets penned in invisible ink. When recruited by her agent’s older brother, Baker eagerly agreed to pass on any tantalizing bits of information overheard at cocktail parties.

Sipping martinis while idly chatting with high-ranking Japanese officials and Italian bureaucrats at embassy gatherings, the singer could easily contribute to the French Resistance movement.

Her other war efforts included: sending Christmas presents to French soldiers, hiding Belgian refugees at her house in Southern France and securing passports and visas for people dodging the Nazi regime.

Accompanied by her entourage, Baker smuggled information out of Spain by pinning it inside her underwear. Not only did the St. Louis native sing and dance for allied soldiers in North Africa, but she also entertained liberated inmates of Buchenwald too frail to travel.

Recognized as the first American women to receive the Croix de Guerre, France’s highest military honor, the St. Louis Walk of Fame and Hall of Famous Missourians also honor Baker’s accomplishments.

For more information regarding this world-famous, African-American entertainer read: Josephine Baker: The Hungry Heart by foster son, Jean-Claude Baker.

Julia McWilliams Child

Before achieving celebrity status as The French Chef, Julia McWilliams Child processed top-secret documents for the OSS, the forerunner of today’s CIA.

Too tall for the WACS or WAVES, this advertising copywriter worked for OSS Leader General William Donovan as a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence Division.

In those years before computers, her orderly mind came in handy when assigned the task of keeping track of 10,000 officers by typing each individual’s name on a white note card before adding their vital information.

In the Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section, Julia helped develop a signal mirror for downed pilots and “cooked up” a shark repellent to steer the sea creatures away from underwater explosives intended to blow up German U-boats.

Ripe for adventure, the California native volunteered for a posting in Ceylon where she handled highly classified papers dealing with the invasion of the Malay Peninsula.

Given top security clearances in Kumming, China, Julia personally examined every incoming and outgoing message for all the intelligence branches involved in war efforts.

Besides receiving the Emblem of Meritorious Civilian Service for her leadership in the OSS Secretariat in China, Julia McWilliams landed a husband who helped launch her star-studded culinary career after the war.

My Life in France chronicles the Child’s life after the war in Paris, Marseille, and Provence.

Virginia Hall

Considered “the most dangerous of all allied spies” by the Gestapo, Virginia Hall spent 15 months helping to coordinate the workings of the Underground in occupied France.

Called “the limping lady of the OSS,” Hall ducked behind enemy lines to map drop zones for necessary supplies and parachuting Allied forces . While working with the Underground, they cut  telegraph power lines disrupting vital German communications as the D-Day invasion played out.

The amputation of her left leg below the knee might have killed her chances for a diplomatic career but didn’t hamper Hall from training three battalions of Resistance forces in guerilla tactics for use against the Germans. Hobbling around on her wooden leg named Cuthbert, the operative continued to update reports of German troop movements until the Allies relieved her group.

In September 1945, Hall accepted A Distinguished Service Cross, the only one awarded to a woman in WWII. Previously in July 1943, British authorities had quietly recognized Hall as a Member of the Order of the British Empire fearing that a higher honor would ‘blow her cover’.

After marriage to OSS agent, Paul Goillot, the CIA requested her services as an intelligence analyst on French parliamentary affairs.

To learn more about Virginia Hall, read The Wolves at the Door: The True Story of America’s Greatest Female Spy by Judith L. Pearson.

Amy Elizabeth Thorpe

By all reports, the most controversial lady spy, Amy Elizabeth Thorpe exploited her beauty and seductive charms to secure valuable enemy data from admiring men in high places.

“Ashamed? Not in the least,” she retorted, “My superiors told me that the results of my work saved thousands of British and American lives.”

Under the code name, Cynthia, Thorpe procured cables, letters, files and accounts of embassy activities and personalities from her lover Charles Brousse, a French embassy official in Washington, D. C.  As his mistress, Thorpe exploited Brousse’s anti-Nazi sentiments and connections with the Vichy French government to her advantage.

Not afraid to scare off an inquisitive night guard by stripping down to her necklace and heels, Cynthia paved the way for the theft of  naval codes. In November, 1942, these ciphers proved to be extremely useful in planning the Allied invasion of  French-held North Africa.

The modern day Mata Hari remarked, “It involved me in situations from which ’respectable’ women draw back—but mine was total commitment. Wars are not won by respectable methods.”

Dubbed as one of the most successful spies in history, Amy Elizabeth Thorpe Pack Brousse also secured conclusive proof of Hitler’s plan to rip apart Czechoslovakia and linked the Polish and Allied efforts to break Germany’s enciphering machine, Enigma.

Some sources credit this translation of German ciphers with bringing an end to the European war two year earlier than previously expected.

The most accurate version of her life and service can be found in Sisterhoodof Spies – The Women of the OSS by Elizabeth P. McIntosh

And the public does remember the humor and the dynamic personality of the six-foot, two-inch woman named Julia Child.

Sadly, the TV chef left us in August 2004, but her influence continues in numerous cookbooks, food videos and soon-to-be released motion picture, Julie & Julia, starring Meryl Streep.

At the oldest restaurant in the country of France,  Paul Child introduced his new wife to French cuisine with a meal of oysters, sole meuniere and fine wine. Having been raised on hearty New England fare, Julia characterized the dining experience as, “an opening up of the soul and the spirit for me.”

The newly weds both worked for the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) when they met.  At first, these two contradictory individuals cared little for each other.

Ten years older than Julia McWilliams, Paul Child, an artist and poet with a black belt in judo, spoke flawless French.  Before the OSS posting, the adventure-starved young woman worked as an advertising copywriter for a New York upscale furniture business, W & J Sloane.

In a letter to twin brother Charlie, Paul, a world traveler, described Julia as “wildly emotional” and  an “extremely sloppy thinker” who couldn’t “sustain ideas for long”.

On the other hand, Julia despaired of Paul’s, “light hair which is not on top, an unbecoming blond mustache and a long, unbecoming nose”.  After a cross-country trip, livened up with 8 bottles of whiskey and 1 bottle each of gin and mixed martinis, the couple wed the following September, 1946.

With Paul’s assignment to France, his new wife’s education in the art of fine food began in earnest.  “I was hooked,” she remarked and soon enrolled in the Cordon Bleu, the esteemed cooking school which has produced Food Network chefs, Giada De Laurentis, Mario Batali and Sandra Lee.

Along with six months of instruction and private lessons with Master Chef, Max Bugnard, the budding gourmet haunted the open-air street markets gleaning food lore from fish mongers, bakers and sellers of fruit.

Not to be left out of the adventure, Paul squired Julia to neighborhood bistros as well as fine restaurants further increasing her knowledge of well-prepared food and its presentation on the plate.

A collaboration with two French women, Simone Beck and Louisette Bertholle, over a period of ten years, produced Mastering the Art of French Cooking, volume 1. During this time, the Childs were posted throughout Europe and then back to Washington making communication between the three colleagues difficult in those days before e-mail and fax.

Detailed reports of individual recipes, each page typed with six carbon copies, flew back and forth across the continent and the Atlantic throughout the 50s.  Exhausted at one point from the exacting experience of perfecting one-ingredient recipes, Julia exclaimed, “I’ve just poached two more eggs and thrown them down the toilet”.

Clearly, she couldn’t stomach another Salad Layonnaise, a traditional French salad of  curly endive, hot bacon, and a freshly poached egg.

After testing all those recipes, volume 1 was rejected by several publishers for being too much like an encyclopedia.  Weighing in at 734 pages, they weren’t too far from wrong.  But persistence paid off with publicity from The French Chef on WGBH, Boston’s public TV station, the cookbook sold 200,000 copies by 1965.

Imagine those housewives of the early 60s who regularly stocked their pantry shelves with Shake ‘n’ Bake, Reddi Whip and Tang reaching for whisks, molds and copper bowls to produce quiche Lorraine, boeuf bourguignon and reine de saba.  Quite a change and all because of a former advertising copywriter.

Recovering from a full radical mastectomy in 1968, Julia dried her tears and threw all her energies into completing volume 2 of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. “Rushing from stove to typewriter like a mad hen,” she quipped.

Success from more episodes of The French Chef catapulted Julia from cook to a celebrity.  But Paul’s declining health took away his French and verbal fluency.  From then on, he served as manager, photographer, recipe tester and proofreader leaving the limelight to his adored wife.

Consequently, Julia’s  40-year career devoted to fine food, yielded  an induction into the Culinary Institute of Fame (1993), France’s Legion of Honor (2000) and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom(2003).  In August 2002, The French Chef’s kitchen was welcomed into the Smithsonian National Museum as an exhibit.

Besides being recognized with honorary degrees  from various universities , the distinctive voice and manner of Julia Child have been  parodied on SNL (Saturday Night Live) by Dan Aykroyd,  by Heathcliff Huxtable on The Bill Cosby Show (1984-1992) and  on Garrison Keillor’s radio series, A Prairie Home Companion, by Tim Russell.

During her 90 plus years, this restless young woman from Pasadena, California, who once cooked up shark repellent for the U.S. Navy during WWII,  grew into an iconic figure  synonymous with fine dining in the kitchens  across  America.