Info: Katherine Tegan Books, copyright 2016, 576 pages
1942. World War II. The most terrible war in human history. Millions are dead; millions more are still to die. The Nazis rampage across Europe and eye far-off America.
The green, untested American army is going up against the greatest fighting force ever assembled—the armed forces of Nazi Germany.
But something has changed. A court decision makes females subject to the draft and eligible for service. So in this World War II, women and girls fight, too.
As the fate of the world hangs in the balance, three girls sign up to fight. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman are average girls, girls with dreams and aspirations, at the start of their lives, at the start of their loves. Each has her own reasons for volunteering. Not one expects to see actual combat. Not one expects to be on the front lines.
Rio, Frangie, and Rainy will play their parts in the war to defeat evil and save the human race. They will fear and they will rage; they will suffer and they will inflict suffering; they will hate and they will love. They will fight the greatest war the world has ever known. -Goodreads Description
The Rundown
I'm a historical fiction junkie, especially when it comes to WWII era books. I couldn't wait to read it and thankfully it wasn't a let down at all! I'll admit that as excited as I was to get my hands on this, I was a little worried about how Michael Grant could carry out an alternate telling of the most famous conflict in world history.
I mean, we know Rosie the Riveter. We know women built planes, ships, tanks, ammo, served with the USO, grew victory gardens, and more on the home front, but actually fighting? Going through basic training right alongside men? In 1942? Huh?
The story opens with a fictional article about a lawsuit against a state draft board that made it legal for women to be eligible for the draft as well as men in 1940. If you look at it like a historian, it's a pretty easy bit of fiction to swallow as reality. All you had to do in 1940 was watch a newsreel or turn on the radio to see how things were going in Europe. Although the majority of Americans favored isolationism there was also a dreaded sense that we would be dragged into the conflict eventually. And we were, on December 7, 1941. We saw this overwhelming surge of nationalism as young men went to enlist, and in this story, women too. Think about the days and months after 9/11, when women in military service was a much more common thing. It's really not hard to believe that women, very young women, were enlisting right along with young men to do their duty.
Okay, the history major in me will try to shut up now and get back to the book review. First off the characters. Rainy was my absolute favorite! After basic she was recruited to go on to army intelligence. She's kind of our girl on the inside, who we get to see the bigger picture through. I can't wait to follow her in the next book. Why? Rainy is from New York City and the daughter of Jewish immigrants from Poland. She knows that no one from their temple with family in Poland or the Ukraine have gotten any letters in over a year. It's in her mind to find out why.
Frangie is our glimpse at what military service was like with two strikes against you: being a woman and being African-American. Although women can fight in this alternate telling, the US Army is still segregated by race. She leaves Tulsa, Oklahoma for the army to help send money to her family, who are facing hard times after an accident leaves her father unable to find work. Frangie's family and neighborhood, the Greenwood district, were greatly scarred by the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921 (definitely an event worth reading up on!). Some of the most gut-wrenching parts of the book to read were those following Frangie. Once, during basic, she's caught walking alone by a white sergeant and is nearly attacked before a black squad happens to pass by and put an end to it. We follow Frangie to North Africa where she's a medic with a black artillery unit. Readers will be amazed how some soldiers would rather risk bleeding out or infection over letting a black medic assist them.
Rio tells the story of many. Although her hometown of Gedwell Falls, California, is fictitious, it could very well be any small town in America. Being from a little farming town myself, I could appreciate where Rio grew up: a place where you knew everyone, their parents, their grandparents. Where hardly anything was new and not much changes. Rio is already struggling with feeling like she's the next generation of farmer's wife: raising children, cooking, cleaning, and keeping a home and wondering if there's more out there when her family gets a telegram that her older sister was killed in the Pacific theater. She's still dealing with being the first gold star family in town when her best friend, Jenou, tells her she's enlisting. Wishing to do something, anything, Rio lies about her age (she's 17) and joins the army.
I got very attached to the close-knit group of young men and women that go through basic and become a squad together with Rio & Jenou. Which makes following them through their first days in North Africa difficult. For years I over glamorized the 1940s in my head (still do now and then...I mean, the fashion, the greatest generation...anyway) until I saw the movie Saving Private Ryan when I was a teenager. War is devastating. Cruel. These young men and women saw, endured, and made choices no one should ever have to make. Yet they did it, and we have them to thank for our freedom.
Before I became the YA librarian I worked in the local history center of our library. I had the honor of meeting and interviewing veterans from many wars during that time, but one in particular stood out to me, and I played his words over as I read about Rainy, Frangie, and Rio in North Africa. This veteran was a WWII pilot. He was in a wheelchair as came into the library. I stuck my hand out to thank him for his service, but he wouldn't take my hand until he had stood up and removed his hat for a lady (so yes, I fell in love). While talking to him we got around to the camaraderie I'd always envisioned in war. You know, fighting for apple pie and baseball and your buddy next to you. He had tears in his eyes when he told me that it got to a point where his heart couldn't take making friends. He said you'd chat with a few guys one night, maybe grab a drink together. Then you'd get back from a mission and hear their plane got shot down. It was a lonely feeling. Away from home. Being asked to kill. Afraid of friendship.
Can you imagine? I can't, but I played his words over in my head after reading the battle scenes Grant painted in North Africa. And this is only the beginning of war for Rainy, Frangie, and Rio. Front Lines takes you through basic training and into their first exposures to combat. This is the first in the Soldier Girl series with the other books going on to the invasion of Italy, landing in France, and the liberation of Europe.
It is a large book with longer chapters, but the pace of the book balances out the size. Every time I'd near the end of a chapter I'd think I could put it down and go to bed, but nope! A definite page turner perfect for any reader who loves historical fiction, war & military life stories, and awesome main characters! The beginning was a little slow and I thought for sure I wasn't going to like Rio, but by the end of this book when you see what a kick butt soldier she is, you'll be thankful for all the time you spent with her as a normal teenage girl in Gedwell Falls. I can't wait to follow the invasion of Italy with these soldier girls!
Rating: 4 Stars. A great book & enjoyable read.
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