Come to Iris Books & Coffee and meet local author Sandy Laws, who was recently featured on Vital Voices. "Appalachia to Dessau: Letters of a World War II Tank Commander" features the letters of John Goodin. This book presents Goodin’s uncensored and emotional letters home, following his transformation from rookie to seasoned soldier. This is an unvarnished and honest portrait of the life of a young soldier, told in over 300 letters to home. Original photographs of Goodin’s life and family illustrate how his Appalachian roots grounded him during a tumultuous time of war.

“The correspondence and accounts by American soldiers during World War II are a literary memorial. In Appalachia to Dessau, Sandy Laws has curated the heartfelt, often humorous, and always deeply emotional letters from the front written by John Goodin, tank commander, to his family back home. This is a story of courage, faith and Appalachian resilience told by a soldier who lived it. There are photographs and artful details never seen in a World War II memoir. A triumph!”—Adriana Trigiani, author of The Good Left Undone