T-R PHOTO BY SARA JORDAN-HEINTZ Tuesday afternoon, authors Catherine Team, left, and Beverly Smirnis, signed copies of their new book “Anna From Atlanta” at Stepping Stones Christian Bookstore. The historical fiction novel is set in Marshalltown in the 1930s, based on the real-life tale of a caregiver named Anna who came to Marshalltown to care for a disabled youth.

Authors Catherine Team and Beverly Smirnis describe their new novel as a cross between “Forrest Gump” and “The Help.” They held a book signing Tuesday afternoon at Stepping Stones Christian Bookstore in Marshalltown.

The book, entitled “Anna From Atlanta” is a historical fiction tome set in Marshalltown, primarily in the 1930s, based upon the real-life Anna Belle Parker, an African-American woman who came to Marshalltown from Atlanta to accept a job as a live in caregiver to Josephine and Dr. Frederick Wahrer’s disabled young son, Fritzie (or Fritzy in the book), whom she helped teach to communicate and become self-sufficient, in an era with limited resources for those with any type of disability.

Team was inspired to pen the story based on conversations with her now 95-year-old father Daniel Bechtel, who grew up in Marshalltown.

“My grandparents, Dan and Gertrude Lennox Bechtel, were good friends with Fritzie’s parents,” Team said.

Team recalled hearing stories about how Anna was protective of Fritzie, and would not tolerate anyone talking down to him or underestimating his intelligence or abilities. She would reprimand children who made fun of him, by making them come to the house and read aloud to him.

“My dad was one of those kids who had to read to Fritzie,” Team said. “I think the visits gave Fritzie companionship, and helped him be accepted, much like Anna became accepted as one of the few African-Americans in the community at that time.”

Team, who has a background in advertising and journalism, recruited Smirnis, who works in the publishing industry, to help develop the plotline of the story. Both women are based in Fort Worth, Texas.

The narrative centers largely on the lives of the female characters, including Anna’s daughters, Fritzie’s mother (named Joyce in the book), “saucy” neighbor Susan Calloway, and Anna herself. The story is told in flashback and in the first-person by Anna, as she’s interviewed by a reporter for the Des Moines Register in 1974.

Anna recalls her arrival to Marshalltown, adjustment to life in the North, and her encounters with a mixed bag of colorful characters — the lustful, the gruff, the humorous and the murderous.

Many of the supporting characters, and some of the more dramatic instances in the book, are entirely fictional.

“Stories from your family become true, even if they encompass bits of fiction,” Team said. “We had to invent some characters to provide antagonists.”

“We doctored some instances. You take creative license,” Smirnis said.

While traveling to Marshalltown this week on their book tour, the authors learned Anna Belle Parker is buried in the Wahrers’ family plot in Riverside Cemetery.

“Anna From Atlanta” is available in paperback and eBook on Amazon and in stores, including Stepping Stones Christian Bookstore in Marshalltown and Grinnell.

The authors are working on a sequel to the book entitled “Letters From Hope” told from the point of view of one of Anna’s daughters.