What if Adolf Hitler had fathered children?
Whitney Buggey, former administrator of Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, answers that question in his debut novel, the post-Second World War thriller, Eva’s Child, which will be launched in Vernon, Wednesday, March 15.
Eva’s Child follows the theory by western intelligence agencies that Hitler may have fathered a child or children, one of them with his mistress Eva Braun. The story is set in Germany in 1939-40 and then moves to 1989 when the children would be approaching 50.
“It’s a page-turner that will keep you up for a couple of days,” said local author John Lent, retired writing professor and regional dean at Okanagan College.
This is Buggey’s first published novel.
Aside from being a longtime leader in developing post-secondary education opportunities at the college, he was also a leader in developing a strong infrastructure of support for writing and publishing and writers in the Okanagan, said Lent.
“Whitney is one of the big reasons why we have so many writers living here now,” said Lent. “In the early ‘80s, Buggey supported writers and writing in a way that was innovative and unprecedented.”
Now retired in Coldstream, Buggey not only helped introduce creative writing courses into Okanagan College’s curriculum, he helped establish the college’s Kalamalka Press and the Kalamalka New Writers’ Society.
“What people don’t know about Whitney is that he is also a very dedicated lover of writing himself, and it is so exciting to see this beautiful big novel surface in his retirement. And it’s beginning to get rave reviews,” said Lent.
“All us writers want to get together next Wednesday and honour this writer and celebrate this new book. Whitney’s going to read from the book and he’ll also take questions about his own writing career. It’ll be great fun.”
Wednesday’s launch of Eva’s Child takes place at 4:30 p.m. at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus, room D333. It is open to the public and there will be refreshments and a cash bar. The novel will also be available for sale and is also available on amazon.com.