Windle's novels,
True Women,
Hill Country, and '' Will's War
are based on extensive research on her ancestors. On the first page of True Women'' the author says, "The vivid stories of the women in my family had been passed down mother to daughter, grandmother to granddaughter, aunt to niece and even father to daughter, for six generations..." In the introduction to her
True Women Cookbook, on pages IX through XI, the author tells how an idea for a collection of family recipes as a wedding present for her son grew into the novel that came out before the cookbook did.
True Women is written in three parts, a sweeping saga of women caught up in the passions and actions their times, from the Texas Revolution and the Civil War until the end of World War II. The book has been published in eight different languages. On the book jacket,
James A. Michener said Windle "performed a family miracle ... She recalls vivid scenes from her family's past, but also weaves them into a well-constructed novel."
Publishers Weekly called
True Women an "unusual, intriguing blend of historical novel and family memoir." The novel was the source for a
Hallmark Entertainment miniseries of the same name that originally aired on CBS in 1997. It starred
Dana Delany,
Annabeth Gish, and the as-yet-unknown
Angelina Jolie. Supporting actors included Tina Majorino, Michael Greyeyes, Michael York, Charles S. Dutton, Julie Carmen, Powers Boothe.
True Women was filmed on location in Seguin, Texas. Her second novel,
Hill Country, is based on her father's mother, Laura Hoge Woods. A determined and independent woman, her life began in frontier days and overlapped the childhood and career of her neighbor's son, Lyndon Baines Johnson. Windle's third novel is ''Will's War'' is largely a courtroom drama, based on the life of her mother's father, a German-American. Active in the farmers' union movement, Will Bergfeld was swept up in ethnic troubles when war with Germany broke out. He was put on trial in federal court along with dozens of other activists. Windle obtained the 80-year-old trial transcript and wove it into a dramatic climax. ==References==