Home Front

I love this author's writing and this book does not fail in reaching the parts other books can not. Wonderful, wonderful wonderful a tale of friendship, love and the price of war. Couldn't put it down.

Another good book from Kristin Hannah, although very different from her others. It still deals with family and relationships but from a view point most of us will never know. I thought it was a beautiful story, very moving and certainly makes you cry. The characters have real depth andvare all different. I really enjoyed this story of love and loss in its many different forms.

So moving - a great read -

Wow- I could not put this down. The Higgs and lows are so compelling and I went from tears to smiles regularly. Well done Hannah!

Such a good read highly recommend

This is a unusual book in as much as it tells the story about a female soldier deployed in Iraq. She’s a wife and Mum and it tells her and her families struggles to cope after she is injured. It’s an emotional read but very sensitively dealt with.

I cannot in all honesty say I enjoyed this book. Well written? Yes. As always with Hannah's books. For war veterans and their families, this may be a great read. I understand also the need for the world to change the support or lack thereof for returning soldiers. But, I don't need this enveloping sadness and depression when reading a novel. Just my very personal opinion

This is the 4th book I have read from this author. All very different, but all keep you wanting to read more and more. She seems to bring so much knowledge and understanding to situations, and it’s so well written. Her insight into human nature is second to none. Looking forward to reading more!

This book got me from the first page. The characters were so real and I went from page to page living life with them. Every word held truth in it and I loved it!

Before she became Jolene Zarkades, she was Jolene Larsen, a child of alcoholic parents and all-too familiar with domestic violence. At seventeen, she described families like hers as "battlefields, bloody and dark, littered with shrapnel and body parts." When her parents died in a car accident that year, she grabbed onto a life that would give her a sense of family, strength, and purpose. She became a helicopter pilot in the Air National Guard. For years, that life was only a part-time one, with occasional flights and drill weekends. Her husband Michael, a successful attorney in Seattle, had been the love of her life. But lately their lives seemed to be moving on alternate pathways. Between daily routines and the children--preteen Betsy and four-year-old Lulu--there wasn't much time or energy for the relationship. Their marriage seemed to be splintering, a piece at a time. Everything changes when Jolene is deployed to Iraq. She and best-friend Tami Flynn, who lives next door, are off together to put their training to use. Left behind, Michael struggles; he is angry at Jolene's choice to be in the military, yet feeling guilty about his feelings. He'd never really believed she would go to war. As a workaholic, he has submerged himself in work; now he is forced to manage on his own, and can't believe how difficult this single parenting has turned out to be. In an alternating narrative voice, we come to see how Michael and Jolene separately suffer and cope with how their lives have turned out. But just as Michael is finally getting the hang of parenting, a phone call turns his world upside down. What happens next to change everything for the two of them? How will Jolene's fate affect Betsy and Lulu, and how will she finally come to terms with who she is now? Home Front is a story about love, loss, heroism, honor, and hope. It's about coping, rediscovering who you are, and rebuilding the fragile bonds that have broken. The characters felt like real people, with vulnerabilities exacerbated by the horrific experiences they have faced. I felt compassion for Jolene and Tami, trained in the military life, relying on stoicism to see them through, while burying their feelings of fear and vulnerability. My heart went out especially to Jolene, who went from an embattled childhood to a war zone. These experiences rendered her especially susceptible to PTSD. Recovery would require something she has no experience with: the ability to ask for help and to allow those around her to give it. I also finally came to feel some empathy for Michael, who, in his own way, is also unable to reach out for help. A beautifully wrought tale that brought me to tears throughout, I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to delve into the emotional issues of families struggling with war, at home and in the field. Five stars.

Good writer

Great book

I liked everything about this book ..the author’s deep understanding of human character and the challenges women face when they try to live their dreams and choose careers dominated by men. All Kristin’s books have inspired me so much and helped understand how privileged we are right now and relate with the tragedies many people faced in the past in wars etc and many continue to face in the recent wars in Russia ,Ukraine,Israel,Palestine..seems that the modern world has not really been as progressive and humane as we would have wished it to be