Taunton love story transports readers back to Camp Myles Standish in the 1940s

TAUNTON — Local author Kerrin Willis is once more shining a spotlight on some of Taunton’s history with her latest novel, “Strange Arithmetic.”

Willis released her first novel, “Iron & Fire,” in 2022, also set in Taunton: it’s a Colonial era romance set amidst King Philip’s War.

“Strange Arithmetic” is a little closer to our era.

Jumping between the 1940s during the height of WWII to the year 2016, “Strange Arithmetic” is about a love that transcends decades and heartbreaking hardships. It’s also packed with meticulous research, and features other local landmarks, like St. Mary’s Church and the Roseland Ballroom.

What is ‘Strange Arithmetic’ about?

One of the protagonists, Maggie O’Callaghan, begins working at Camp Myles Standish, the embarkation depot for more than 1.5 million soldiers going overseas to fight in WWII.

The camp also held German prisoners of war, and Italian “co-belligerents,” so classified under the Geneva Convention because by the time they were brought to the camp, Italy had already surrendered.

Maggie meets an Italian co-belligerent named Leonardo Castiglione, and it’s not long before the two fall in love.

Meanwhile, closer to our present day, Niamh Reilly and her wife Christine are hoping to start a family of their own. While dealing with fertility problems, Niamh, who wants a family more than anything, takes a DNA test and discovers that she has far more relatives than she thought.

Niamh begins a journey that will lead her to discover not only a family that loves and cherishes her, but exactly what happened to the great love shared between Leo and Maggie.

Kerrin Willis has strong family history in Taunton

Willis’ own history with Taunton runs deep.

“I'm a fourth generation Tauntonian on my dad's side, so I grew up on stories from Taunton's past,” Willis told the Taunton Daily Gazette. “My grandfather Francis J. O'Boy ran a market in town, and was the city's tax collector for a while.”

And she’s got family connections to Camp Myles Standish as well.

“Last summer, when I asked my Uncle Paul to clarify some details about Taunton in the 1940s for me, one of the things he mentioned is that his father worked the counter in one of the laundries at Camp Myles Standish part-time to help with the war effort,” Willis said.

One of Maggie’s more memorable experiences working at the camp’s laundry in the novel comes from her grandfather’s real-life experience:

“Maggie's comment about the uniforms smelling like someone who had been dead in them for several days is a direct quote from him.”

The other characters in Maggie’s family were also influenced by Willis’ relatives: her great-grandmother, Agnes McCaffrey, and her father and uncles, Frank, Paul and Joe O'Boy.

“As for Niamh's timeline, I'd love to take credit for it, but I'm not sure where it came from,” Willis said. “Niamh is one of those characters who shows up in an author's head fully formed and proceeds to take over the story.”

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Researching ‘Strange Arithmetic’ was ‘a joy’

Willis, who is a 1998 Coyle & Cassidy graduate, also has a BA in English from Stonehill College, an MA in English from Simmons, and will be earning her MFA in fiction writing from Southern New Hampshire University in 2024. Willis is also a member of The History Quill and The Alliance for Independent Authors (ALLI).

She’s also an English teacher and a mother of two.

“Most of my writing is done in the school pick up line, in the stands at gymnastics practice, or in the middle of the night,” Willis said.

In comparison with the inherent difficulties of researching 17th-century Taunton for her first novel, Willis said the writing and research processes for “Strange Arithmetic” were “a joy to complete.”

“In comparison, there is a wealth of information on the 1940s!” Willis said. “I went through old copies of the Gazette on microfiche at the Taunton library, I did some research at the OCHM, I interviewed family members, and I scoured the internet for anything I could find on the time period.”

‘Strange Arithmetic’ available at local bookshops

And soon enough, “Strange Arithmetic,” which is self-published, will be available in local bookstores.

The book will be released on Tuesday, March 21, and is available for pre-order through Readmore Books at 330 Winthrop St.

It will also be available at An Unlikely Story, 111 South St. in Plainville, where Willis is giving an author’s talk at 7 p.m. on March 21.

“Strange Arithmetic” will be available everywhere books are sold, in paperback, ebook, and audiobook editions.

Old Colony History museum to host book release party

There will also be a release party for the book at the Old Colony History Museum, 66 Church Green, on Saturday, March 25, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Willis will be talking about her inspirations for the book, and there will be appetizers, as well as live music from Greg Luzitano, Willis said.

Guests will also have the chance to check out OCHM’s collection, including items related to Camp Myles Standish, Willis noted.

Old Colony History Museum Director Katie MacDonald said that OCHM has “a number of items from Camp Myles Standish on display,” and that the museum’s entire military room is being re-installed.

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Keep up with Kerrin Willis’ work

Willis said she has several events scheduled at local libraries over the next few months, and that readers can buy a signed copy of the book at all of these events.

For a full schedule of events and updates, visit www.kerrinwillis.com or follow Willis on Instagram @KerrinWrites.

And there will be more from Willis on the horizon: she’s working on a novel about a young woman who disguises herself as a man to get a job on a 19th-century whaling ship out of New Bedford.

“I want my writing to highlight the stories of the strong women who came before us,” Willis said. “The characters themselves are fictional, but their struggles and experiences are not. So much of history is told from the male perspective, and I want to explore the female experience that might otherwise be lost to history.”

Taunton Daily Gazette/Herald News copy editor and digital producer Kristina Fontes can be reached at kfontes@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News and Taunton Daily Gazette today.

This article originally appeared on The Taunton Daily Gazette: Taunton Kerrin Willis: 'Strange Arithmetic' set at Camp Myles Standish