War Against Miss Winter (Haines)

Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Reared—in San Antonio, Texas, USA
• Education—B.A., Trinity University; M.F.A, University of
   Pittsburgh
• Currently—lives in Western Pennsylvania

Kathryn Miller Haines is an actor, mystery writer, award-winning playwright, and artistic director of a Pittsburgh-based theater company. She grew up in San Antonio, Texas, and received her BA in English and Theatre from Trinity University in San Antonio and her MFA in English from the University of Pittsburgh. She's a member of the Mary Roberts Rinehart Chapter of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She lives in Western Pennsylvania with her husband, Garrett, and their three dogs.

Haines has always been fascinated by World War II, in particular how women's lives changed during the war. She thought the inherent combustibility of being a nation at war would be an interesting backdrop for Rosie's own dramas.

New York was a natural choice for the setting. It was important for Rosie to be part of a vibrant theatre world in a city where one could, logically, support themselves financially as an actor. It also needed to be someplace where there would be a connection with military activity, either because it was a destination point for soldiers on leave or because it was situated near a base.

Haines read countless books about life on the home front, poured through hundreds of articles in the New York Times during 1942 and 1943 to find out what was going on theatrically and what information about the war someone at home would legitimately have access to. She listened to old time radio shows and popular music from the period; read novels and periodicals published during the time; viewed dozens of movies set during the period; and examined photographs and maps of New York during the war.

In an interview on the publisher's website, Haines was asked to what extent she based the camaraderie and competition of her fictional actors on her own theatrical experiences. Many of her characters, she said, were created with types of people "one is always bound to encounter in the theatre world.... I've worked with megalomaniacal directors, with writers who thought every word they wrote was a gift, and with actors who honestly couldn't understand why the director had bothered to cast anyone else when their own talents were more than sufficient to fill the stage. But I've also worked with some of the most humble, creative, talented, giving people you could hope to encounter. They're the reason why I still adore performing to this day." (From the author's website.)