While the character of Angela Martinelli may be fictional, each battle, victory and tragedy is real in Theasa Tuohy's debut novel, "The Five O'Clock Follies: What's a Woman Doing Here, Anyway?" The author will have a book signing from 4 p.m.-6 p.m. today at Hastings, 616 N. Sheridan.
The new book, published by Calliope Press, was released earlier this month to critical praise.
The novel is set in 1968, when life in the media was much different for a woman especially female reporters in a war zone. Martinelli, a freelance journalist, experiences that kind of environment in Asia as a war correspondent.
The Tet Offensive, the Vietnam War's largest military operation up to that point, was just beginning. Armed with a camera, notebook and pen, Martinelli seeks to tell the stories of the battles and hardships in Vietnam while trying to survive in the bunkers herself.
Tuohy, an Oklahoma-born author and journalist, said work on her novel "started out before there was Google," and was going on for about 25 years. She said the story "totally captures a very small moment in time," giving readers a feel of what it was like for the press during those times.






