Author: Jennifer Chiaverini
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperCollins, 2023
Pages: 464
Rating: Highly Recommend
Synopsis: In June 1917, General John Pershing arrived in France to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself unable to communicate with troops in the field. Pershing needed telephone operators who could swiftly and accurately connect multiple calls, speak fluent French and English, remain steady under fire, and be utterly discreet, since the calls often conveyed classified information.
At the time, nearly all well-trained American telephone operators were women - but women were not permitted to enlist, or even to vote in most states. Nevertheless, the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began recruiting them.
More than 7,600 women responded, including Grace Banker of New Jersey, a switchboard operator with AT&T and an alumna of Barnard College, Marie Miossec, a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer, and Valerie DeSmedt, a twenty-year-old Pacific Telephone operator from Los Angeles, determined to strike a blow for her native Belgium.
They were among the first women sworn into the U.S. Army under the Articles of War. The male soldiers they had replaced had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in 10 seconds.
Deployed throughout France, including near the front lines, the operators endured hardships and risked death or injury from gunfire, bombardments, and the Spanish Flue. Not all of them would survive.
The women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honor and played an essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a novel. . .until now.
Review: Sometimes when reading historical fiction, it's difficult to know what is fact and what is fiction. Grace Banker was a real person and kept a war time journal. She is mentioned on the World War I Museum website (fun fact, a few years ago my husband and I took our children to this museum in Kansas City, Missouri). She also has a Wikipedia page. The other two prominently featured characters in this novel, Marie and Valerie, are fictional ladies.
This book was so good that these characters lived in my head, and I found it difficult to concentrate on other books. This was a problem because I only had this as an audio version, and for me that means, I only listen when I drive (and only when I'm by myself). It took most of June and into July to finish.
Other Jennifer Chiaverini Novels
Mrs. Grant and Madame Jule
Mrs. Lincoln's Dressmaker
Mrs. Lincoln's Sisters (coming soon)
