Interview with Phyllis Zimbler Miller, author of Mrs Lieutenant

MRS. LIEUTENANT: A WOMEN’S FRIENDSHIP NOVEL is inspired by my own experiences as a new Mrs. Lieutenant in the spring of 1970.  I wanted to preserve this slice of women’s social history at the beginning of the women’s liberation movement. 

The story is told from the POV of four very different women who are thrown together and who rely on each other for support as they learn to navigate in an alien world — that of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War.

What genre is it?
Women’s fiction, war/military

Oh? What kind of readers will it appeal to?
Readers who are interested in stories of women overcoming prejudice and learning to understand and appreciate differences in others.

Is there anything out there that is similar?
Tanya Biank’s ARMY WIVES.

You say this is the story of four women?
Although there are four main characters, Sharon Gold is the primary main character. She’s a Northern Jew who suddenly finds herself in an alien world in what she considers the South only four years after the passing of the Civil Rights Act.  When she has to carpool with a Southern Baptist who has never met a Jew, Sharon’s strength of character is sorely tested.

How would you like the reader to feel as they read the last word of your book?
Wiping their eyes with a tissue because of the emotional epilogue.

Is there a story behind the title?
Mrs. Lieutenant was the name of the booklet we new officer’s wives bought from the Ft. Knox PX to learn the rules by which we were to conduct our lives.  It also connotes that, in 1970, the army considered the wife of an officer as an extension of that officer.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
I have other fiction books:
CIA FALL GUY: A SPY THRILLER
LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS: A MILITARY THRILLER (written with my husband Mitchell R. Miller)
CAST THE FIRST STONE: A REBECCA STONE MYSTERY

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I grew up in Elgin, Illinois, and got a B.A. in Journalism at Michigan State University.  My husband and I were stationed in Munich, Germany, with the U.S. Army (some of this experience is included in CIA FALL GUY).  When we returned to the U.S. we lived in Philadelphia, where I was a newspaper reporter and then got an M.B.A. at The Wharton School.

In 1980 we moved to Los Angeles and I have been marketing and writing since then.  Five years ago I co-founded the online marketing company www.MillerMosaicLLC.com

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com — I blog here about author and book marketing topics.

How can we follow you on Twitter and/or Facebook?
@ZimblerMiller
www.facebook.com/phylliszimblermillerauthor

What’s next?
I am writing a dystopian thriller chapter by chapter on Wattpad — THE MOTHER SIEGE.