Book excerpt: Married at nineteen, she was a war widow at twenty. Now 85 years old, Meara Sullivan is determined to reconnect with her husband who died during World War II on D-Day. They knew each other as husband and wife for only five days when Private 1st Class Paul Hughes shipped off for Europe, never to return. CLOSURE, the anchor story of this 7-story anthology, recounts Meara’s unlikely trail of discovery. Told in a series of flashbacks, CLOSURE captures life on the home front for Meara and Paul in 1940s Boston and offers a gripping account of the young soldier’s part in the greatest amphibious invasion in military history. Dan Celeste is both narrator and participant in each of the anthology’s seven tales. His personal story interlaces historical events, intriguing characters, and coming-of-age lessons. CLOSURE and Other Stories spans seven decades, beginning in 1943 and ending in 2011 when Meara completes her quest for renewal.