A new book offers a glimpse into what it was like to grow up about a century ago in the small north-central Iowa town of Duncombe.
Author and former Webster City resident Kent Wills, who uses the pen name Jack Weicz, is releasing the book this week called “Duncombe Gal.” “It’s a story about a woman that’s in the last year of her life, and she reflects back on an entire lifetime,” Wills says. “She was a member of the Greatest Generation, which are those people born between 1900 and 1925, so she’s kind of a reflection of that generation, and in this case, she happened to be my mother.”
Wills says his mother never longed for more than an ordinary life while living through one of the most remarkable times in American history. He says the book is something of a hybrid. “It’s a very personal story, but I consider it biographical fiction because I had to come up with, through imagination, the stories, what the characters might be thinking, how they might feel,” Wills says. “So even though it’s based on real events, it’s really fiction in a lot of ways.”
Kent Wills. (photo submitted)
Wills describes how he got the title of the book. “My mom was a Duncombe gal. She grew up in Duncombe and I think it was really a strong part of her identity,” Wills says. “She was always very proud of the fact that she was from Duncombe and that was her hometown and many of us were very proud of where we grew up.”
The 77-page book is available on Amazon and Kindle.
(By Pat Powers, KQWC, Webster City)