Lafayette, LA -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/21/2012 -- While a work of pure fiction, Lloyd J. Guillory’s ‘Rainey: The Story of a Woman’ begins in one of the most traumatic times in American history. As the Great Depression strikes, protagonist Rainey Wether is born into a world where nothing is easy, yet everything is worth fighting for.

Picking up the 2001 Foreword Magazine Bronze Award for best romance novel, the book has remained hugely popular during its first decade on the shelves.

Its synopsis is a powerful reminder of the many personal struggles that were fought in a post-Depression society.

Synopsis:

Rainey is the story of a young woman, born and raised in the rural south during the great depression. She comes from a very poor and dysfunctional family, fatherless, leaving her ill-equipped to handle the trials and tribulations so common to us all.

But, she has an inner character, an innate sense of right and wrong, and even though her path through life is rough and torturous at times, she eventually finds her happiness and the book, like all good romance novels should, has a happy ending.

As the author explains, the book was inspired by his own experiences during the 1930s and early 1940s.

“Rainey’s story is inspired by my own memories of the Great Depression and the terrible effects it had on the American people,” says Guillory, who worked as a noted architect in Louisiana.

He continues, “The financial crisis was a catalyst for a myriad of social tragedies. Mothers were forced to pass their babies onto more fortunate families who could afford to feed them, people resorted to begging on the streets and some felt no option but to steal. The fictional story of Rainey is a microcosm of the millions of personal stories of struggle that come from this trying time.”

In the case of Rainey herself, the story concludes with a happy ending. Guillory hopes that her tale of tribulation and triumph will both entertain and educate those who are too young to have experienced the Great Depression on a first-hand basis.

“It was a long time ago, so most people alive today were born after the dark years ended. Many accounts of and insights into the Great Depression are confusing or weighed down with too many facts. I hope that, by wrapping this period of history into a fictional story, people will learn a thing or two about what happened and perhaps even change their own character by using Rainey as a guiding figure,” he adds.

To date, the response to Guillory’s book has been overwhelmingly positive. As just one of four fiction books penned under his name, the author has many other literary journeys waiting for those who want to learn more.

Other titles include ‘A Tale of Three Wives’, ‘Charlie’s Odyssey’ and ‘Summary Justice’.

Each title, published by Amazon Digital Services, is available online.

To purchase ‘Rainey: The Story of a Woman’, visit: http://amzn.to/T4FdHQ

About the Author: Lloyd J. Guillory
Lloyd J. Guillory was born of French Cajun parents in South Louisiana in 1925. He spent his formative years there and vividly remembers the Great Depression years of the 1930's. His family was never rich, nor were they poor, as poor is measured in the context of the depression. He was only sixteen in 1941 when the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred and was too young for military service at that time.

In 1943, when he was approaching his eighteenth birthday, he enlisted in what was called at that time, the Army Air Corps. In his youth, he had always dreamed of being a pilot, and on August 4, 1944, his dream was realized when he won his wings as a pilot. He served in the South Pacific as a fighter pilot in the Fifth Air Force, flying the incomparable P-51 Mustang. After his discharge from the Air Force in August of 1946, he entered Louisiana State University on the GI Bill. He graduated in 1952 with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering. He spent the next 35 years as a practicing architect with his own office in Morgan City, LA.

During that period he designed many of the areas public buildings. In 1954, he married the former Catherine Kreider, and the marriage produced four children, two boys and two girls, who, in turn, produced the now present ten grandchildren. At the time of this writing in 2011, the marriage is in its fifty-seventh year. After retiring from architecture in 1987, he and his wife moved to Columbia, MO to be with their oldest daughter and, at that time, the only grandchild. He now turned his time to a long delayed desire to write novels. He has now completed six of them.