5 Star
Deborah Birch is a seasoned hospice nurse whose daily work requires courage and compassion. But her skills and experience are tested in new and dramatic ways when her easygoing husband, Michael, returns from his third deployment to Iraq haunted by nightmares, anxiety, and rage. She is determined to help him heal, and to restore the tender, loving marriage they once had.
At the same time, Deborahs primary patient is Barclay Reed, a retired history professor and expert in the Pacific Theater of World War II whose career ended in academic scandal. Alone in the world, the embittered professor is dying. As Barclay begrudgingly comes to trust Deborah, he tells her stories from that long-ago war, which help her find a way to help her husband battle his demons.
Sabrina-Kate - 5 Star
Picking up this book, I purposely did not read anything about it beforehand but the cover and title intrigued me enough to dive right in. It wasn't long before I was utterly captivated by this story.
I feel like this was a very timely story, speaking about modern veterans and the demons that plague them. I have heard some of the statistics and cannot imagine the horror they have lived through and this story just made it all become much more real. Deborah is the main character yet the story largely revolves around her husband, Michael, and what is happening to him since his latest return from duty. Far from easy to deal with, Deborah searches for answers and solutions to an ever increasing distance that sits firmly between them.
The story of Barclay, the hospice patient that Deborah is currently caring for, plays an intricate and essential part to this story. I found it fascinating to see how two lives could reflect each other and in the end help each other despite many differences and years separating them.
A must read for anyone who truly wants to understand our modern society and the ills that plague it, I just could not put this book down and was somewhat sadly nostalgic when it ended.
Thank you to William Morrow for our review copy. All opinions are our own.
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