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!