State of Romance: Love in the Hawkeye State
Tomorrow is the anniversary of Bob Feller's opening-day no-hitter in 1941. His record stands today as the only opening-day no-hitter. Nicknamed The Heater from Van Meter, Feller hailed from Van Meter, Iowa. He skipped the minor leagues to play for the Cleveland Indians at age 17. Feller enlisted in the Navy during WWII, serving as a chief petty officer aboard the USS Alabama. He returned to baseball to throw no-hitters in 1940, 1946 and 1951. In honor of Bob Feller and opening day, we visit Iowa, the Hawkeye State.
Iowa is home of two Pulitzer Prize-winning novels — Marilynne Robinson's Gilead and Jane Smiley's A Thousand Acres. Both of these Iowans have set other award-winning books in their home state, including Robinson's Home and Smiley's Some Luck.
Cozy mysteries find humor in the grassy plains with Shirley Damsgaard's Witch Way to Murder from the Ophelia & Abby Mystery series and Kathleen Bacus' Calamity Jayne from the series of the same name.
For Young Adult, pull out your tiara for The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes. Melanie Dobson brings Iowa's history to life in Love Finds You in Amana, Iowa and Love Finds You in Homestead, Iowa.
James Waller explores forbidden love in The Bridges of Madison County. The love affair between an Italian war bride and a National Geographic photographer came to the silver screen with Clint Eastwood and Meryl Streep — but the Iowa landscape stole the spotlight. W.P. Kinsella followed his passion for baseball and penned Shoeless Joe, inspiring the film Field of Dreams. This romance with baseball offered an all-star cast with Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones, Ray Liotta and Burt Lancaster. "If you build it, he will come" became a slogan for hope. I offer one more film set in Iowa — Ice Castles with Lynn-Holly Johnson and Robbie Benson. Johnson, a champion skater, traded her sweetheart charm for sex kitten in James Bond's For Your Eyes Only. Benson, a '70s teen idol, remains forever in the hearts of Tiger Beat fans.
Add to the list of books and films set in Iowa by using #StateOfRomance on Twitter. Next week we visit Iowa's neighbor to the northeast, Wisconsin, America's Dairyland.
Kim Lowe is an Air Force veteran, Air Force spouse and romance book blogger at SOS Aloha. You can reach her at sos.aloha@yahoo.com.