There are thousands of stories about men going off to war. There are just as many about women staying at home trying to hold down the fort while the men are at war. Home Front is not one of those stories.

Jolene joined the military at 18. She had nothing. Her parents were dead, not that they’d ever really been there for her anyway. In her high school to flight school program, Jo found family and purpose for the first time in her life.

Later, Jo married a successful criminal defense attorney and had two daughters, Betsy and Lulu. She found herself with a real family and a career she loved. But nothing could have prepared her for the sacrifice of leaving her family behind to defend her country.

Jo’s anti-war husband, Michael, was never supportive of her career, but his lack of understanding only drove the couple apart. As Jo leaves for Iraq, she and her husband are barely speaking. Her pre-teen daughter is confused and angry. Her four-year-old can’t understand why her mommy won’t be around for her birthday or the first day of kindergarten.

But Jo believes in honor and duty. No matter how difficult it may be to leave, not sure if she can trust her husband to pick up the pieces while she’s gone, Jo made a promise to serve and she will not break it.

Jo tries to paint a safe and happy picture of her life at war to protect her family from the truth. The truth is that she is attacked at camp several times a day. That helicopters are being fired at more and more often. That much of her job is devoted to flying the injured and dead around. And that the people who make it home from war will never be the same.

On the home front, Michael is representing a war vet who is facing murder charges for killing his wife, and simultaneously struggling to be a father to his kids in a way he never was when he had a wife to fall back on. Serving double duty as dad and lawyer is not easy, but it is made all the more difficult not knowing if he will ever be able to repair his relationship with Jo.

As in Night Road, Hannah is an expert storyteller who beautifully depicts a family struggling to come together and heal in the darkest of times. Home Front is made up of rich, complex characters who are at times heroic, and at others downright despicable; characters who love each other to the moon and back, but push each other away when they need each other most.

Kristin Hannah’s newest novel is an absolute sobfest. It is an inspiring, heartbreaking, fast-paced, intense emotional experience. Beneath the serene, idyllic cover is a story that will shake you up and make you rethink what is worth fighting for and at what cost. While Home Front touches on the politics of the Iraq War, it is not about the war itself so much as the individual lives impacted by it–the families forced to live temporarily, or sometimes permanently, without a loved one.

Home Front feels both timely in its exploration of recent events, and timeless in its depictions of hope, forgiveness, family relationships, and the price of freedom.

Home Front is also available as an audiobook from Macmillan Audio. Click on the cover below to listen to the first chapter.

The following video features Kristin Hannah speaking with Teresa Burgess, a pilot and mother who served as an advisor for the novel.

Tags: family problems, grief, identity, law, marriage, mental illness, parents, ptsd, war
Filed under: Book Review

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

Tags: waiting on wednesday
Filed under: Meme

What I knew about Drowning Instinct before reading it: Nothing. I loved the cover. I occasionally talk to Ilsa Bick on Twitter about challah and rugelach. I might have read a synopsis at one point, but by the time I read the book, I’d forgotten what it said.

What you should know about Drowning Instinct before reading it: Almost nothing. Drowning Instinct is a book that reveals its secrets slowly. You know how rollercoasters you ride in the dark are always scarier than the ones where you can see the twists and turns up ahead? Drowning Instinct is a rollercoaster ride best taken in the dark. So I’m not going to tell you much about the plot. If you’re one of those people that feels the need to know those sorts of details ahead of time, there are plenty of others who will be happy to share them, I’m sure.

Here is what I will tell you about Drowning Instinct: It is BRILLIANT.

Drowning Instinct explores the ways in which people suffer silently, drowning on the inside, while looking perfectly fine to an outsider. Like the characters in Drowning Instinct, this book has a lot going on beneath the surface. Bick takes some big, bold risks, and they pay off. With a multitude of subplots woven together by conversational (and perhaps unreliable) narration, I never quite knew where the story was going, how it would find its way full circle, or how much I could believe. Bick kept me on edge from beginning to end. This is a one-sitting read; I could not put it down. To put it bluntly, Drowning Instinct is a total mindfuck.

You should not read Drowning Instinct if you are not comfortable floating within gray areas. The characters are not clearly good or evil, predator or prey. They are flawed and they are vulnerable, but ultimately they are only trying to do what is right for themselves. Ambiguity is abundant and it makes the novel simultaneously frustrating and thrilling. Outside of Dexter, I have never rooted so hard for something that felt so wrong. Drowning Instinct will call your morals into question. It is thought-provoking in the best kind of way: It grabbed hold of me and would not let go. Bick’s latest novel begs to be discussed.

Tags: family problems, high schools, mental illness, psychological fiction, secrets, self-injury, sports, teachers
Filed under: Book Review

Tags: confessions of a canine bibliophile
Filed under: Miscellaneous

After Rose’s mom dies of cancer, Rose finds one of her mother’s famous Survival Kits in a closet. Her kit includes an iPod, a picture of peonies, a crystal heart, a paper star, a box of crayons, and a miniature kite. Unfortunately, some music, art supplies, and pictures aren’t going to work any magic themselves. Rose has to use these clues to move on in a year of “firsts” without her mom.

With little interest in any of her former activities, Rose fills her time trying to take care of her alcoholic father and her mom’s old garden, but struggles to maintain relationships with her friends and boyfriend. Everything Rose does is a painful reminder that her mom can’t be there to share in her experiences. Yet, each piece in the Survival Kit brings Rose back to Will, a shy, reserved hockey player who had worked in her family’s gardens for years, and who experienced a tragic loss of his own. The Survival Kit didn’t include anything about romance, but maybe Will is the missing piece Rose needs to put her life back together.

Donna Freitas’ The Survival Kit is a beautiful book about grieving and letting go that is sure to make you shed a few tears. The book is full of realistic and likable characters, like Rose’s supportive best friend Krupa and tough love Grandma Madison, as well as a complex father and brother who are grieving alongside Rose.

The Survival Kit is multi-layered. Though Rose has trouble listening to music without her mom, her story is enhanced by chapter titles that make up a playlist for her year. Further, the many references to the items in Rose’s Survival Kit beg the question: What would you put in Survival Kits for your own friends and family?

Freitas’ latest work is well worth reading, despite (or perhaps because of) the emotional toll it takes. Bearing many similarities to Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour, The Survival Kit is cathartic, romantic, and well-crafted.

Tags: alcoholism, death, family problems, grief, romance, sports
Filed under: Book Review