Based on true events uncovered in century-old letters.

An Echo of Ashes is a thoughtful and quietly powerful work of historical biographical fiction, tracing a young man’s coming of age in a world increasingly shaped by industry, war, and social upheaval.

✔️ Based on true events uncovered in century-old letters

✔️ When World War One and the Spanish Influenza collided

✔️ A family torn between duty, fear, and hope

✔️ Music, words, and love in the shadow of war

✔️ Brothers pulled onto different paths by history

✔️ Patriotism, sacrifice, and the cost of survival

✔️ Ordinary lives caught in extraordinary times

✔️ A forgotten chapter of American history brought to life

✔️ Tragedy echoed through time — but never disappeared

Check out the blurb:

An Echo of Ashes is a story lost to time, then
found again in century-old letters that lay in a tattered box.

Based on actual events taken from the pages, this story tells of when the Great War and the Spanish Influenza forever altered the lives of millions, including a family of subsistence farmers who also worked the oil fields of Pennsylvania.

Ella and Almon make their home in the backcountry. Almon and his sons work in the oil fields, just as their forefathers before them. As war and influenza break out, the parents seek to shield their family from the impending perils. Earl, the eldest son, is a gifted trombone and piano player. He is captivated by Lucile Lake, a girl from a higher social status. All he has to win her heart are his music and his words as the military draft looms in the foreground. Jack, a friend as close as a brother, faces the horrors of war at the Western Front. Albert's free spirit creates chaos as he searches for direction. Arthur's patriotism leads him to the Mexican border. Young Russell must suppress his fear to save a life, while Little Clara remains protected from the distress.

World War One and the Spanish Influenza Pandemic are most often documented separately, yet they intersected in 1918. For those who endured sacrifice and loss during this time, looking forward seemed their only choice. The sharp echo of tragedy, carried through the ashes of what once was, likely dulled but never vanished from their minds. This is just one of countless family stories from such a perilous chapter in American history.

This book is available as an ebook, paperback, and hardback. You can pick up your copy HERE.

Ron Allen Ames is a history enthusiast who attributes his 46 years of life experience as a hands-on business co-owner, for giving him insight into human nature, a benefit when portraying the lives of others. The information he received, dating 1914 to 1919 is what prompted Ames to bring this history to light in An Echo of Ashes. Ames lives with his wife Cathy in Pennsylvania. They have two grown sons.

"I don't see myself as the author of this book, but more of a conduit relaying the information given to me about the past. The family letters, postcards, journals, newspaper articles, and photographs found in a tattered old box contain a record of a somewhat forgotten time when a great war and a pandemic simultaneously struck the world. History records major events, statistics, details of destruction, and world changes, but it often overlooks the home front and the emotional impact of such a perilous time. An Echo of Ashes is just one of many stories from this era."

Website

Instagram