Nicols weaves his extensive research of rural Mississippi, the Great Depression and even World War II into a tale that’s much more than a romantic tale. Those dreams become a nightmare when Peter is unexpectedly sent back to the United States without saying goodbye to his soul mate. So begins a tender love story full of hope and dreams of the future.

It’s there that he comes to know, and love, Elizabeth Baker, a nurse who helps mend his wounds and heal a broken heart. When he’s wounded in battle, he ends up in an English hospital filled with injured soldiers and short on skilled nurses. There are few opportunities other than working at his family’s mercantile and playing baseball. Meet Peter Montgomery, a young man from a small Mississippi town, who feels obligated to join the Army during World War I. “All the characters (in this novel) were created from a composite of hundreds of people I’ve observed in life to give me a character with a choice to make in life and to point out the consequences of that character’s choice.”

“The purpose of the novel was to use the vehicle of fiction to highlight the choices we make in life and the consequences of our choices,” Nicols said in an email interview.Īs a judge and lawyer, “I have had almost six decades to observe the results of bad choices,” he said.

“Long Love’s Return” is the debut novel for this federal-judge-turned writer. Special to the Mississippi Clarion LedgerĪ fascination with history, family and relationships have stoked author Alfred Nicols’ imagination, culminating in an emotion tale of war, love and second changes. Debut novel is a decades-long romance from the battlefields during WWI to postwar Mississippi

Lost Love's Return by Alfred Nicols