Anthony Ardley got out of the car, said goodbye to his friend who had driven him, and walked toward his home. It was only the end of May, still early in the summer, but the Chicago heat had already started to swell. He didn’t mind though. With the heat, his summer vacation had begun.
— Rose of Anzio ~ Moonlight, Chapter 1
Since I was writing a fiction novel, many situations and details in Rose of Anzio were purely created from my imagination. Yet, I did try to be as authentic as I could to recreate the world during the time when the story occurred. Chicago is known for its smoldering summers. In my mind, the story would open with a scene of Anthony returning home for summer vacation after his first year at the University of Chicago. I imagined that day would be very hot, as later on, he would go for a swim in the swimming pool after he meets Tessa the second time. But a nagging voice in my head kept saying, maybe it wasn’t that hot yet. That voice would not go away, and I had to find out.
Luckily for me, I found the website “Weather DB”, which shows the history of weather. I was able to confirm that on May 13, 1940, it was a sunny day in Chicago (with no precipitation) and the temperature high that day was 80 degrees fahrenheit!!
http://history.weatherdb.com/l/353083994/Chicago-IL-on-May-13-1940
