Three Terrific Books For Galentine's Day

Reprinted from auburnpub.com

Valentine’s Day is February 14th but have you heard of Galentine’s Day? Fans of TV’s Parks & Recreation will recognize it as a holiday made up by the main character Leslie Knope to celebrate her friends. It took off in the popular culture and now is celebrated by many people every year on February 13th.

This month’s Book Report features some books that celebrate and honor female friendship and would be perfect gifts to give your best gal pals for Galentine’s Day.

Robyn Carr often writes about female friendships in her wonderful novels, and her latest is titled The Friendship Club. Marni hosts a popular cooking show on television filmed in her fantastic California kitchen (think Ina Garten). 

Ellen is the behind scenes person who does much of the creative cooking while Marni is the face of the show followed by millions. Marni is outgoing whereas Ellen is shy and has no interest in being in front of the camera. 

Sophia is their young college intern who is just starting a relationship with a man who showers her with attention, perhaps too much attention? Marni’s daughter Bella is awaiting the birth of her first baby, and is uncomfortable at the end of her pregnancy.

The four women bond together and help each other through the day-to-day of life. Marni and Ellen become concerned about Sophia’s boyfriend, fearing that he is trying to isolate Sophia. 

There is much to like about this story, and if you enjoy foodie fiction, your mouth may water at the descriptions of the food. It’s also nice to see that romance is not confined to young women, as Ellen and Marni are each delighted to find themselves in relationships with good men.

In a more serious vein, Kristin Hannah’s The Women takes the reader to the Vietnam War in in 1965. Frankie McGrath decides to follow her brother to war when she enlists as a nurse in the U.S. Army. 

Frankie is just 20 years old and has led a sheltered life, so life in a war zone is a complete shock. Her two bunkmates- Barb, a young Black tough surgical nurse and Ethel, who plans on becoming a veterinarian when she returns home- take Frankie under their wing and the three become inseparable.

Hannah does a great job putting the reader in Frankie’s shoes, we can feel the unbearable heat, the soaking rains that pour into her living quarters, and the confusion of being under attack from enemy bombs. Frankie goes from not knowing much to becoming such an outstanding nurse whom doctors trust her to do procedures. 

We also see the burgeoning anti-war movement growing back home through letters from Frankie’s mother, a conservative woman who doesn’t understand what is happening in her own country. 

When Frankie comes back home, she is lost and severely depressed. People spit at her when she arrived back in the U.S., and her service to her country is downplayed and even challenged by her father. She is told time and time again that “Women weren’t in Vietnam”.

Ethel and Barb reach out to Frankie when she is at rock bottom and the three women live together for awhile knowing that not many people understand what they went through, and trying to process how to move forward.

The Women is an emotional rollercoaster, and if you were a fan of TV’s China Beach or M*A*S*H, this is a book you won’t want to miss. 

When I think of the perfect Galentine’s Day read, Amy Poeppel’s The Sweet Spot comes to mind. Melinda’s husband leaves her for a hot young successful entrepreneur, Olivia loses her job at the entrepreneur’s fancy store after an unfortunate customer experience with Melinda goes viral, and Lauren designs ceramic pieces for the fancy store while trying to raise her three young children with her husband and deal with her mother-in-law (Evelyn, my favorite character) who comes to stay. 

How do these three women end up caring for a baby they are not related to? Well that is the question in this charming and delightful novel that is set in a fantastic New York City neighborhood that makes you feel like you’re sitting on the building stoop with these three women who form an unlikely friendship over a baby. The Sweet Spot will put a big smile on your face.

Happy Valentine’s and Galentine’s Day to all!

The Friendship Club by Robyn Carr- A-

Published by MIRA

Hardcover, $28.99, 336 pages

The Women by Kristin Hannah- A-

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $30, 471 pages

The Sweet Spot by Amy Poeppel- A

Published by Emily Bestler Books

Trade paperback, $17.99, 392 pages

Friday 5ive- January 19, 2024

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my attention this week. One of my 2024 resolutions is to be better about posting this weekly. 

1)  I thought I had missed my chance to see the Rockefeller Center tree this year, but I managed to get there on January 11th, two days before it came down. This year's tree was particularly beautiful, so full and bright, and there were no crowds of people on the night I was there.

2)  The reason I got to see the tree was because I was on my way to see Broadway's Days of Wine and Roses. They turned the 1962 classic movie starring Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick into a musical starring two of Broadway's best performers- Brian d'Arcy James and Kelli O'Hara. It tells the story of a public relations executive in the late 1950s who meets and falls in love with a secretary. Joe often has to wine and dine people in his business, and he shares his love of alcohol with the teetotaler Kirsten. Kirsten begins to enjoy alcohol as much as Joe, and that love of alcohol causes problems for both of them. Even the birth of their daughter can't stop them from drinking. It's an emotional, powerful, and sad story. James and O'Hara are in fine form, their musical voices dominate this moving show. It's not a feel-good story, and I was suprised that they turned this into a musical rather than a dramatic play. It's a limited run show, 16 weeks only so if you are in NYC soon I recommend this show for the outstanding performances.

3) We found a fantastic little Italian restaurant in our neighborhood called Donna Margherita. I pass by it frequently on my journeys, and from the outside it looks rather nondescript. Then I looked up reviews for them and they were glowing. Everyone praised their authenticity, the delicious food and the attentive staff. We visited on a recent night with three other people and we were wowed by the food. Most of us had the Sunday Sauce pasta with short ribs that had simmered for seven hours. It was fabulous. The place is small inside, but very cozy and they have an outdoor seating area when it warms up. It will be on regular rotation and if you come to visit us, we'll probably take you there.

4)  If you watched any of the film awards ceremonies in the past few weeks, you have seen Paul Giamatti winning Best Actor for his pitch-perfect performance as a lonely, irascible, tough, unliked by everyone boarding school ancient history professor in the movie The Holdovers. We watched it on the Peacock streaming service and it was wonderful. Da'Vine Joy Randolph also won for her magnificent performance as Mary, the head of the cafeteria, a Black woman who recently lost her son in the Vietnam War. The movie, set in 1970 over the holiday weekend where everyone has gone home for the holiday but one student, the professor who draws Holdover Duty and Mary. The three end up forming an unlikely bond. It's a rare movie that both my husband and I like, but we really enjoyed this one and recommend it to everyone. If you liked the movie Sideways from back in the early 2000s, director Alexander Payne and Giamatti reunited from that one here.

5) Speaking of the Vietnam War, I have two books with that setting for you this week. The first one is Tim O'Brien's classic war novel The Things We Carried, which is my January edition from my Banned Books gift my daughter-in-law gave me last year. I can't wait to read his powerful novel of men in war.

Kristin Hannah's upcoming novel The Women is also set during the Vietnam War. Frankie McGrath leaves her upper class home in Coronado, California to join her brother who left to fight in Vietnam. She becomes a nurse specifically to go to Vietnam and her eyes are opened to another world, one she couldn't have imagined. Frankie becomes friends with her roommates Ethel and Barb, and the although the three women couldn't be more different, they become lifelong friends. Hannah puts the reader right in Frankie's shoes as she quickly learns how to save the lives of young men blown apart in war. We also see the aftermath of Frankie's service, her return home where people spit on her, call her a baby killer and alternately disregard her service by saying "there were no women in Vietnam." I loved the TV show China Beach, and The Women mines that same territory as well as the TV show. I found one small plot point at the end a little disappointing, but The Women overall continues Hannah's streak of writing deeply moving historical fiction (The Nightingale, The Great Alone, The Four Winds).  I highly recommend it.

Welcome to 2024 where winter has finally come to NYC. Stay safe and warm everyone, until next time.

Two Great Women's History Month Reads

Reprinted from auburnpub.com:

March is Women’s History Month, and if you prefer novels to reading nonfiction historical accounts about women, there are two newly published excellent books that will satisfy you.

While researching another novel about WWI, author Lauren Willig found letters from alumni of the all-female Smith College about their time in France during WWI. A group of young women were recruited to travel to France and provide aid to villagers whose homes and communities were damaged or destroyed by the Germans.

That research turned into her latest historical fiction, Band of Sisters. When Kate, a Smith College alumni, gets a letter from her former college friend Emmie asking her to join up with the alumni group going to France to aid villagers, she is intrigued. 

Kate was a scholarship student at Smith, and she stood out from most of the daughters of wealthy and influential families there. She was smart and worked hard, but she felt different from the other young ladies of privilege.

She and Emmie were best friends, until something happened that ended that. Still, Kate is looking for more in her life than teaching at a girls’ school, and she agrees to join Emmie in this endeavor.

When the young women arrive in France, their situation is not what they expected. The chateau that is their headquarters and living quarters is dilapidated, and they are expected to do things like drive and repair huge supply trucks, and purchase livestock, things they were not trained to do. The woman put in charge of purchasing chickens bought roosters instead, a mistake that led to no eggs and endless teasing.

The women were shocked at the conditions of the villages they were to help. They weren’t just there to throw Christmas parties and help them replant crops, they had to rebuild entire villages. They aided in medical care, (there was a female Smith alumna doctor with them), and had to figure out how allocate the little supplies they had to to do the most good.

The characters in Band of Sisters feel so real because Willig based them on real women- the writers of all the many letters she read, written by the actual alumni who went to France. These women rose to the occasion, and because the eyes of the world were upon them, failure would be a major setback for women just at the time that women’s suffrage was taking hold in the United States. 

Band of Sisters is one of the best historical novels I have read because it is based in reality. The writing pulls you in immediately, and you care about these young ladies who leave the safety of their comfortable homes to come to the aid of people they don’t know. Lauren Willig drops you right into the middle of a war zone with these intrepid young women. 

Kristin Hannah’s newest novel, The Four Winds takes the reader from the Texas panhandle in the 1920s to the agricultural fields of California in the 1930s during the Great Depression. 

Elsa is a lonely young woman from a wealthy family in Texas. When she finds herself pregnant by the son of Italian immigrants, her family disowns her and she is reluctantly taken in by her new husband’s parents, who had hoped that their son would be able to leave their family farm and go to college.

Elsa is accepted by her husband’s family, and she grows to love them and the farm. She now has a teenage daughter who is openly hostile to her, and a husband who is growing increasingly distant and unhappy.

When the dust storms roll across Texas and Oklahoma, devastating the farm, and the Great Depression destroys the economy, Elsa is forced to take her two children and flee to California, where they have been told there is work for them picking crops.

The reality of the situation is very different. There are many thousands of refugees like Elsa who are forced to live in tents, and if they can get work on farms, the pay is so little that they can barely subsist.

Although Hannah’s story is set during the 1930s, it resonates with what has been happening today. The refugee situation at the border, the growing inequality between workers and owners, the despair of people in difficult situations. Like Jess Walters’ novel, The Cold Millions, the story of the growing workers' movement is brought to life. The Four Winds puts the reader right in Elsa’s shoes.

Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig- A+

Published by William Morrow

Hardcover, $27.99, 538 pages

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah- A+

Published by St. Martin’s Press

Hardcover, $28.99, 464 pages

Friday 5ive- February 19, 2021

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly blog post featuring five things that caught my attention this week.

1)  Sunday was Valentine's Day, and I saw on CBS Sunday Morning that Martha Stewart had a delicious brunch recipe for Grand Marnier French Toast. It was too late to make it for brunch on Valentine's Day, but I made it the next morning and it was so tasty. Adding milk to the eggs, and using a good brioche bread made the difference. This recipe will be in regular rotation. The video is here if you want to make it.

2)  I received my medal for my 7th virtual bike ride since this summer. I rode the 312.4 mile St. Francis Way from Florence to Rome in Italy. I finished it in 23 days, and I enjoyed getting my "postcards" along the way. You can join virtual walks/rides across the world through The Conqueror Challenge here.

3)  Zibby Owens' essay anthology collection, Moms Don't Have Time To- A Quarantine Anthology published this week and she hosted a Zoom with the 50 authors who each wrote a short essay for the book. It was a fun Zoom, with Zibby asking each author a question that related to their section. The authors of READ shared book recommendations that got them through the pandemic, and there were so many great books there. (My To-Be-Read pile expanded exponentionally.) The authors from EXERCISE shared their pandemic exercise routine, EAT section writers spoke of the food they couldn't live without during pandemic, SEX section writers answered the question "When do you find time for sex?" (mornings were popular), and BREATHE authors shared how they catch their breath during pandemic (everything from yoga to looking into a baby granddaughter's eyes to painting family members' portraits). It was one of the best Zooms I have had the pleasure of joining, and Zibby had it so well organized, it was over in an hour. The proceeds from the book go to COVID research, and the book is great for those of us who have shortened attention spans now.

4)  While looking for a documentary to watch on Netflix, we found Tricky Dick & the Man in Black, about the time when President Nixon asked Johnny Cash to play at the White House. In 1970, Nixon was trying to solidify his Southern base, which up to that point were usually reliably Democrats. Many Southerners were turned off by the protests against the Vietnam War, they saw the protesters as unpatriotic. Nixon's advisers thought that bringing popular country performer Johnny Cash would appeal to the South. Cash was opposed to the war, but he did not want to turn down the President. The archival footage of the White House performance is terrific, and the song choice is pure Johnny Cash. I recommend it for Johnny Cash fans. 

5) I spent a lot of time working on our taxes this week, so I only read 1 1/3 books. I started and finished Mateo Askaripour's hilarious and deep debut novel, Black Buck. Darren lives with his mother and when he is not working as a shift supervisor at Starbucks, he is spending time with his girlfriend. Darren was valedictorian of his competitive high school in New York City, but didn't go to college. His mother wants him to find his niche, and when a start-up CEO offers Darren a position as a salesman at his company, Darren reluctantly accepts. As the only Black man at the startup, Darren has to live with the constant microaggressions (a running gag is everyone at the company telling him he looks like every Black man from Morgan Freeman to Barack Obama) and outright hostile racism. This book is phenomenal, I literally could not put it down, I can see why Jenna Bush Hager chose it as her January book club pick for the Today Show.  I love a book when I don't where it's going, and it suprises me. I give it my highest recommendation. 

I'm one-third through my Book Of the Month Club pick, Kristin Hannah's The Four Winds. Set in 1934 during the Dust Bowl, Elsa and her family live on her husband's family's farm in Texas and things are going well until a severe several year drought and the Great Depression forces them to make a decision- stay in an untenable situation or head to California where so many families are moving hoping for a new start. The characters are relatable, and Hannah brings them and their desperate situation to life. She has a real knack for putting the reader in her characters' shoes, and this book has garnered much praise already.

Stay safe and socially distant, wear a mask, wash your hands, and get the vaccine when it's your turn. And to those of you have already done that, yay for you!

New in Paperback- Fly Away by Kristin Hannah

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah

Published by St. Martin's Griffin ISBN 978-1250031815

Trade paperback, $15.99, 432 pages

Spoiler Alert: If you have not read the first book in the series, Firefly Lane, and plan to do so, DO NOT read this review.

Readers who were devastated by the ending to Kristin Hannah's novel Firefly Lane had better buckle their seat belts for the beginning of her long awaited sequel, Fly Away. We watch the family of Kate grieve horribly for her and then fast forward to four years later when another tragedy befalls them.

Johnny didn't know how to go on without the love of his life Kate, and after her funeral he packs up his family for a week in Hawaii. His seven-year-old twin boys are distracted by the trip, but sixteen year-old Marah needs her friends to help her get through her grief, something her father doesn't understand.

Marah is taking her mother's death very hard, mostly because they had a rocky relationship during Marah's teen years. She feels so guilty that they wasted valuable fighting when they didn't know how little time they had left.

Johnny doesn't know how to reach his daughter and as she slips farther away, it seems that everything he does is wrong, including moving them all to Los Angeles for a fresh start. He needs to move away from the memories, neglecting to understand that Marah needs to cling to them.

Meanwhile Tully, who walked away from her successful Oprah-like talk show to care for Kate during her last months, has lost her career. She promised to be there for Kate's family, but she has no experience and her efforts end in disaster.

With no job, no boyfriend and Kate's family estranged from her, Tully spirals out of control. She drinks, she takes too many prescription pills and she can't seem to pull herself out. All Tully wants is to matter to someone, and after being rejected many times over by her mother Cloud, she feels bereft.

Tully doesn't know that her mother, now using her given name Dorothy, has changed her life. She hit rock bottom, and is now living a simple life in their old home on Firefly Lane. Does she have the strength to be there for her daughter when she needs her most, after all the years of neglect?

Marah meanwhile has become involved with troubled young man she met in a grief group therapy. She lives in a crummy apartment with several hangers-on, working a dead-end job and has no contact with her family.

Hannah weaves Marah's, Tully's and Dorothy's stories together with a deft touch. The tragic event that brings them together upends their lives and forces each of them to dig deep inside themselves to discover who they really are.

I read Fly Away immediately after reading the prequel Firefly Lane, and that was a good decision. I became so invested in these wonderful characters and wanted to yell at them when they did something stupid or selfish and hug them when they needed it. I tore through both books and cried endlessly. Hannah can really push the emotion button on me.

To all those who waited years for this sequel, I believe they will feel that the wait was worth it. Revisiting these unforgettable characters was a trip worth taking.

rating 5 of 5

My review of Firefly Lane is here.

My blog post of Kristin Hannah's visit to Barnes & Noble is here.

 Kristin Hannah's website is here. 

Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

The first book I have read written by Kristin Hannah is Home Front, a brilliant novel about two women pilots in the National Guard dealing with deployments and the families they leave behind. It was so well-written, emotional and a real tribute to the men and women who serve their country.

I met Hannah on tour for that book and my blog post about that is here. Hannah's breakout novel was Firefly Lane, a novel that she said in a talk at the Barnes & Noble store on the Upper East Side last month that "changed my career and where I found my voice."

It was the first book she wrote in an all-female point-of-view. She said she wanted to try something different and she "fell in love with the book's characters and the journey of the novel." The book was a success, striking a chord with many readers who wanted to see a sequel.

But Hannah said that after spending the 14 months that it takes to research and write a novel, she is done with the characters. But Firefly Lane was different. She knew "there was more to the story." She ended up writing 1200 pages that she just threw in the trash, trying to find a voice for the sequel.

It was tough going; after 20 years, Hannah felt she had lost her confidence. Writing it "became an act of will" and in the end, it was "exactly what it was supposed to be." She said that "writing this book reminded me that it's hard."

She was most interested in Dorothy's story, but felt that she should write the story of Fly Away from three characters' perspectives- Dorothy, her daughter Tully, and Kate's daughter Marah.  My review of Fly Away  is here. My review of the first book, Firefly Lane is here.

When asked who Hannah likes to read, she said she likes genre fiction, and feels that she has "an epic fantasy novel" in her. She likes to read Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Tami Hoag and Chevy Stevens. She also reads YA and women's fiction; she's an eclectic reader for sure.

Kristin Hannah's website is here.
My review of Fly Away is here.
My review of Firefly Lane is here.

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah
Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0-312-53707-4
Trade paperback, $14.99, 507 pages

Firefly Lane was the breakout novel for Kristin Hannah. It was the first novel she wrote in an all-female point of view, and the book she says where she found her voice.

It's 1974 and Kate Mularkey lives with her family in a Seattle suburb. She is not a popular eighth-grader, wears all the wrong things, gets picked on in school. All that changes when cool girl Tully moves in across the street with her hippie, drug-addicted mother.

Tully is basically raising herself, trying to care for her mom and run a house on her own. She hides her mother from everyone, telling Kate her mom has cancer. Tully lives on the wild side, and one night things go too far and it is Kate who is there to help her cope.

They become inseparable best friends forever, and everyone refers to them as one word-TullyandKate. Kate's mom finds out about Tully's mother's drug issues, and opens her home to Tully. She gives Tully the confidence to believe that she can have a bright future as a journalist, and Kate reluctantly is dragged into this plan.

The girls go to college together, and while Tully is dogged in her pursuit of her dream, Kate dates and looks to balance school with a dating life. Tully lands a job with a small local television station and gets Kate a job there as well. Kate falls in love with Johnny, the boss, who only has eyes for the gorgeous, vibrant Tully.

We follow Tully as she climbs the career ladder and Kate as she marries and raises her children. Their paths diverge, but they remain best friends, even though they have less in common.

Tully becomes a media superstar, but she thinks of Kate's family as her own. She dates, but she is lonely. Kate is a great mom, but as her daughter Marah becomes a teenager, Marah rebels and puts Tully in the middle.

Marah's rebelliousness leads to Tully making a big mistake and hurting Kate, destroying their friendship in the process. After years of estrangement, can Kate and Tully come together when they need it most?

I was about the same age as Tully and Kate were in 1974, and so all of the references are a touchstone for me. The songs (Billy, Don't Be a Hero is now permanently stuck in my head), the TV shows (Luke and Laura's wedding on General Hospital),  Tiger Beat magazine, the clothes and hairstyles- it all came rushing back to me as I read it. Any woman aged 45-50 or so will be transported back to her teen years reading this.

The characters are interesting, and I especially loved Kate's mom, whom I suspect is based on Hannah's mother. She took in Tully and loved her, even when Tully did things that I found almost unforgivable, Kate's mom was there for Tully too.

Besides the theme of friendship, we see how women dealt with issues of work versus family life and what that means to their identity. The difficulties of parenting teenagers will hit home with any parent, but I am curious to see how women who chose to have a demanding career view the character of Tully.
                                   
Hannah writes a novel that has an ending that will emotionally devastate the reader, just like she did in Home Front. I don't know of any writer today who can make me cry as much as she does in her books. If you enjoy reading books that pack an emotional punch, Firefly Lane is a must-read.

rating 4 of 5

My review of the sequel to Firefly Lane, Fly Away, is here.
My post on Kristin Hannah's Fly Away book tour visit to Barnes & Noble is here.
Kristin Hannah's website is here.

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah

Fly Away by Kristin Hannah
Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0-312-57721-6
Hardcover, $27.99, 400 pages

Spoiler Alert: If you have not read the first book in the series and plan to do so, DO NOT read this review.

















Readers who were devastated by the ending to Kristin Hannah's novel Firefly Lane had better buckle their seat belts for the beginning of her long awaited sequel, Fly Away. We watch the family of Kate grieve horribly for her and then fast forward to four years later when another tragedy befalls them.

Johnny didn't know how to go on without the love of his life Kate, and after her funeral he packs up his family for a week in Hawaii. His seven-year-old twin boys are distracted by the trip, but sixteen year-old Marah needs her friends to help her get through her grief, something her father doesn't understand.

Marah is taking her mother's death very hard, mostly because they had a rocky relationship during Marah's teen years. She feels so guilty that they wasted valuable fighting when they didn't know how little time they had left.

Johnny doesn't know how to reach his daughter and as she slips farther away, it seems that everything he does is wrong, including moving them all to Los Angeles for a fresh start. He needs to move away from the memories, neglecting to understand that Marah needs to cling to them.

Meanwhile Tully, who walked away from her successful Oprah-like talk show to care for Kate during her last months, has lost her career. She promised to be there for Kate's family, but she has no experience and her efforts end in disaster.

With no job, no boyfriend and Kate's family estranged from her, Tully spirals out of control. She drinks, she takes too many prescription pills and she can't seem to pull herself out. All Tully wants is to matter to someone, and after being rejected many times over by her mother Cloud, she feels bereft.

Tully doesn't know that her mother, now using her given name Dorothy, has changed her life. She hit rock bottom, and is now living a simple life in their old home on Firefly Lane. Does she have the strength to be there for her daughter when she needs her most, after all the years of neglect?

Marah meanwhile has become involved with troubled young man she met in a grief group therapy. She lives in a crummy apartment with several hangers-on, working a dead-end job and has no contact with her family.

Hannah weaves Marah's, Tully's and Dorothy's stories together with a deft touch. The tragic event that brings them together upends their lives and forces each of them to dig deep inside themselves to discover who they really are.

I read Fly Away immediately after reading the prequel Firefly Lane, and that was a good decision. I became so invested in these wonderful characters and wanted to yell at them when they did something stupid or selfish and hug them when they needed it. I tore through both books and cried endlessly. Hannah can really push the emotion button on me.

To all those who waited years for this sequel, I believe they will feel that the wait was worth it. Revisiting these unforgettable characters was a trip worth taking.

rating 5 of 5

My review of Firefly Lane is here.
My blog post of Kristin Hannah's visit to Barnes & Noble is here.
 Kristin Hannah's website is here. 

New in Paperback- Home Front by Kristin Hannah

Home Front by Kristin Hannah

Published by St. Martin's Griffin, ISBN 978-1250023278

Trade Paperback, $15.99, 432 pages

The horror story of the US soldier accused of murdering 17 innocent civilians in Afghanistan blares on the nightly news and we all have a difficult time understanding how this could happen. The accused soldier is on his fourth deployment, something unheard of in previous wars.

In author Kristin Hannah's 19th novel, Home Front, a lawyer married to a female National Guard Black Hawk helicopter pilot is defending a soldier accused of snapping and killing his wife. When she wrote the book, I can't imagine that Hannah could have known just how timely her novel would be.

Michael, the lawyer, has been depressed since he lost his father and law partner recently. His wife Jolene, who lost her parents when she was 18, goes through life always looking for the positive. She and her best friend and neighbor Tami fly choppers for the National Guard.

Tami's husband and 12 year old son are proud of her and the work she does. Michael doesn't understand why Jolene wants to be a soldier; they have two daughters- Betsy, 12 years old and Lulu, four years old- and he thinks she should leave the Guard.

After Michael refuses to attend his wife's birthday party at the Guard base, Jolene hides her disappointment again. Then Michael tells her that no longer loves her. Jolene is devastated and can't understand what has happened.

Jolene and Tami's unit gets called up and off to Iraq they go for a year's deployment. Michael is angry that he has to change his routine to take care of his daughters, and he resents the detailed binders of information that Jolene has left for him. Schedules of meals, doctor's appointments, and household maintenance are all laid out by the efficient Jolene.

Hannah does an amazing job showing how these families' lives are turned upside down, and having the wives as the deployed soldiers and the husbands left behind to handle the home front made this novel that much more interesting. The contrast between Tami's supportive husband and Michael is jarring.

We see how hard it is for those left behind and how difficult it is for forty-something women in a war zone. Jolene tries to protect her family by downplaying the danger, and Michael is willing to play along.

She writes emails to her daughters, but nothing to Michael, believing that their marriage is over. Michael makes no effort to reach out to Jolene either, even though he feels badly that she left believing he no longer loved her.

I saw Kristin Hannah a book signing at Barnes & Noble on 86th St. in New York City in February and she said that she wanted to write a book about the price of deployment on military families and a marriage in trouble. She said "some books I like more than others, and this one I like."

Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

She interviewed a chopper pilot and "didn't understand one word she said because she used acronyms." The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Burgess, is thanked in the acknowledgments, and it is clear that she was the inspiration for Tami and Jolene.

There is a turn of events halfway through the novel, and it reminded me very much of Anna Quindlen's novel, Every Last One. Just like that powerful novel, I cried all the way through the last half, and my heart literally hurt reading it. It was a emotionally draining experience reading this book.

The characters are well drawn, and the story is well written. Betsy going through her teenage angst, Michael struggling and Jolene's withdrawal felt so real. I read this book in two sittings; I couldn't set it down or get these characters out of my mind.

Home Front takes you on a emotional journey, and it reminds us of the hugh sacrifice that a small percentage of Americans make on behalf of the rest of us. It is shameful that we as a nation have not done enough to help the families left behind or the soldiers upon their return, and thanks to Kristin Hannah for reminding us that we have a responsibility too.

rating 5 of 5 stars

Another excellent book about soldiers and the families they leave behind is Siobhan Fallon's You'll Know When the Men Have Gone.

Home Front by Kristin Hannah

Home Front by Kristin Hannah
Published by St. Martin's Press ISBN 978-0-312-57720-9
Hardcover, $27.99

The horror story of the US soldier accused of murdering 17 innocent civilians in Afghanistan blares on the nightly news and we all have a difficult time understanding how this could happen. The accused soldier is on his fourth deployment, something unheard of in previous wars.

In author Kristin Hannah's 19th novel, Home Front, a lawyer married to a female National Guard Black Hawk helicopter pilot is defending a soldier accused of snapping and killing his wife. When she wrote the book, I can't imagine that Hannah could have known just how timely her novel would be.

Michael, the lawyer, has been depressed since he lost his father and law partner recently. His wife Jolene, who lost her parents when she was 18, goes through life always looking for the positive. She and her best friend and neighbor Tami fly choppers for the National Guard.

Tami's husband and 12 year old son are proud of her and the work she does. Michael doesn't understand why Jolene wants to be a soldier; they have two daughters- Betsy, 12 years old and Lulu, four years old- and he thinks she should leave the Guard.

After Michael refuses to attend his wife's birthday party at the Guard base, Jolene hides her disappointment again. Then Michael tells her that no longer loves her. Jolene is devastated and can't understand what has happened.

Jolene and Tami's unit gets called up and off to Iraq they go for a year's deployment. Michael is angry that he has to change his routine to take care of his daughters, and he resents the detailed binders of information that Jolene has left for him. Schedules of meals, doctor's appointments, and household maintenance are all laid out by the efficient Jolene.

Hannah does an amazing job showing how these families' lives are turned upside down, and having the wives as the deployed soldiers and the husbands left behind to handle the home front made this novel that much more interesting. The contrast between Tami's supportive husband and Michael is jarring.

We see how hard it is for those left behind and how difficult it is for forty-something women in a war zone. Jolene tries to protect her family by downplaying the danger, and Michael is willing to play along.

She writes emails to her daughters, but nothing to Michael, believing that their marriage is over. Michael makes no effort to reach out to Jolene either, even though he feels badly that she left believing he no longer loved her.

I saw Kristin Hannah a book signing at Barnes & Noble on 86th St. in New York City in February and she said that she wanted to write a book about the price of deployment on military families and a marriage in trouble. She said "some books I like more than others, and this one I like."

Kristin Hannah at Barnes & Noble

She interviewed a chopper pilot and "didn't understand one word she said because she used acronyms." The pilot, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Teresa Burgess, is thanked in the acknowledgments, and it is clear that she was the inspiration for Tami and Jolene.

There is a turn of events halfway through the novel, and it reminded me very much of Anna Quindlen's novel, Every Last One. Just like that powerful novel, I cried all the way through the last half, and my heart literally hurt reading it. It was a emotionally draining experience reading this book.

The characters are well drawn, and the story is well written. Betsy going through her teenage angst, Michael struggling and Jolene's withdrawal felt so real. I read this book in two sittings; I couldn't set it down or get these characters out of my mind.

Home Front takes you on a emotional journey, and it reminds us of the hugh sacrifice that a small percentage of Americans make on behalf of the rest of us. It is shameful that we as a nation have not done enough to help the families left behind or the soldiers upon their return, and thanks to Kristin Hannah for reminding us that we have a responsibility too.

rating 5 of 5 stars

Another excellent book about soldiers and the families they leave behind is Siobhan Fallon's You'll Know When the Men Have Gone.