by Jennifer Chiaverini ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 19, 2022
An eye-opening and detailed novel about remarkable female soldiers.
A historical tale focuses on three women whose key roles as telephone operators helped lead the Allies to victory in World War I.
Chiaverini’s latest opens with Gen. John Pershing’s 1918 call to arms for the “young women of America” to enroll in the American Expeditionary Forces in France. It was no secret that the most talented telephone operators at the time were female—the job required nimbleness, steady nerves, and a “smile in her voice"—and who better to translate French and English phone commands than American “hello girls”? New Jersey resident Grace Banker feels called to enlist on account of her French studies at Barnard, and her strong sense of patriotic duty soon promotes her to chief operator of the Signal Corps’ First Unit to France. Valerie DeSmedt, a Los Angeles resident, hopes to honor her hometown of Brussels, which recently bore the kaiser’s devastating onslaught. French singer Marie Miossec has only been in America for two years because of her father’s transfer to the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and she dashes a career in opera in order to aid the two countries she calls home. These three women, along with their fellow “switchboard soldiers,” embark on a harrowing journey to France in wartime, experiencing the dangers of U-boats, outbreaks of the Spanish flu, and sexism: “You’re a fine soldier, for a girl.” Chiaverini weaves the intersecting threads of these brave women’s lives together, highlighting their deep sense of pride and duty: “I might have said something about wanting to slap the kaiser,” says one operator named Cora, “and since the army wouldn’t let me carry a rifle, I’d fight the Germans with the telephone.” Grace, Marie, and Valerie are strong characters, and their tender romantic relationships fit neatly among details of their war efforts. While a bit overlong and fraught with extraneous day-to-day minutiae, Chiaverini’s story will strike a chord with history buffs, and many will be surprised that such an essential crew of soldiers went virtually unrecognized after the war.
An eye-opening and detailed novel about remarkable female soldiers.Pub Date: July 19, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-06-308069-0
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 12, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2022
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
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A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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by Tana French ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
An absorbing crime yarn.
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A divorced American detective tries to blend into rural Ireland in this sequel to The Searcher (2020).
In fictional Ardnakelty, on Ireland’s west coast, lives retired American cop Cal Hooper, who busies himself repairing furniture with 15-year-old Theresa “Trey” Reddy and fervently wishes to be boring. Then into town pops Trey’s long-gone, good-for-nothing dad, Johnny, all smiles and charm. Much to her distaste, he says he wants to reclaim his fatherly role. In fact, he’s on the run from a criminal for a debt he can’t repay, and he has a cockamamie scheme to persuade local townsfolk that there might be gold in the nearby mountain with a vein that might run through some of their properties. (What, no leprechauns?) “It’s not sheep shite you’ll be smelling in a few months’ time, man,” he tells a farmer. “It’s champagne and caviar.” Some people have fun fantasizing about sudden riches, but they know better. Johnny’s pursuer, Cillian Rushborough, comes to town, and Johnny tries to convince him he could get rich by purchasing people’s land. Alas, someone bashes Rushborough’s brains in, and now there’s a murder mystery. The plot is a bit of a stretch, but the characters and their relationships work well. Trey detests Johnny for not being in her life, and now that he’s back, she neither wants nor needs him. She gets on much better with Cal. Still, she’s a testy teenager when she thinks someone is not treating her like an adult. Cal is aware of this, and he’s careful how he talks to her. Johnny, not so much: “I swear to fuck, women are only put on this earth to wreck our fuckin’ heads,” he whines about Trey’s mother, briefly forgetting he’s talking to Trey. The book abounds in local color and lively dialogue.
An absorbing crime yarn.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593493434
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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