“A moving tale of female solidarity and courage.” —Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network
December 1917. As World War I rages in Europe, twenty-four-year-old Ruby Wagner, the jewel in a prominent Philadelphia family, prepares for her upcoming wedding to a society scion. Like her life so far, it’s all been carefully arranged. But when her beloved older brother is killed in combat, Ruby follows her heart and answers the Army Signal Corps’ call for women operators to help overseas.
As one of the trailblazing “Hello Girls” deployed to war-torn France, Ruby must find her place in the military strata, fight for authority and respect among the Allied soldiers, and work to secure a victory for the cause. But balancing service to country is complicated further by a burgeoning relationship with army medic Andrew Carrigan.
What begins as a friendship forged on the front lines soon blossoms into something more, forcing Ruby to choose between the conventions of a well-ordered life back home, and the risk of an unknown future.
A Tale of Two Times. This book was a fascinating look at how World War One truly marked a demarkation in American history that is often times glossed over between the tumult of the American Civil War and the birth of the modern American Superpower in WWII, though I do not think it quite as glossed over as the author implies in her notes at the end of the book. The story presented here truly examines the author's thesis in detail though, and presents a moving drama within that framework. An excellent book that brings attention to one of the conflict's groups of unsung heroes, this book could well do for the 'Hello Girls' what other recent books did for the ladies of the Apollo program in NASA.
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1 November, 2018:
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