Band of Sisters
A Novel
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4.2 • 97 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
"A crackling portrayal of everyday American heroines…A triumph."
— Fiona Davis, New York Times bestselling author of The Lions of Fifth Avenue
A group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France at the height of World War I in this sweeping novel based on a true story—a skillful blend of Call the Midwife and The Alice Network—from New York Times bestselling author Lauren Willig.
A scholarship girl from Brooklyn, Kate Moran thought she found a place among Smith’s Mayflower descendants, only to have her illusions dashed the summer after graduation. When charismatic alumna Betsy Rutherford delivers a rousing speech at the Smith College Club in April of 1917, looking for volunteers to help French civilians decimated by the German war machine, Kate is too busy earning her living to even think of taking up the call. But when her former best friend Emmeline Van Alden reaches out and begs her to take the place of a girl who had to drop out, Kate reluctantly agrees to join the new Smith College Relief Unit.
Four months later, Kate and seventeen other Smithies, including two trailblazing female doctors, set sail for France. The volunteers are armed with money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray. The chateau that was to be their headquarters is a half-burnt ruin. The villagers they meet are in desperate straits: women and children huddling in damp cellars, their crops destroyed and their wells poisoned.
Despite constant shelling from the Germans, French bureaucracy, and the threat of being ousted by the British army, the Smith volunteers bring welcome aid—and hope—to the region. But can they survive their own differences? As they cope with the hardships and terrors of the war, Kate and her colleagues find themselves navigating old rivalries and new betrayals which threaten the very existence of the Unit.
With the Germans threatening to break through the lines, can the Smith Unit pull together and be truly a band of sisters?
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Willig (The Summer Country) draws on the Smith College Relief Unit's experiences in France during WWI for this immersive novel. In 1917, Smith graduate Kate Moran joins fellow alumnus Emmie Van Alden to travel to France and help villagers whose lives have been upended by an earlier German occupation. The unit, composed of 17 women, resides in army barracks near an abandoned chateau in Grecourt, where they provide locals with food, medical care, and education. The villagers' lack of bare necessities is eye-opening for the Smith women, many of whom have led privileged lives. Kate, meanwhile, remains sensitive about her humble beginnings—she gained admission to Smith through a scholarship—and becomes upset when she discovers that Emmie paid for her trip to France. (Emmie had told her they were funded by donations from Smith alumnae). As the war rages on and the German army once again advances on Grecourt, Kate and Emmie's friendship grows stronger when they reveal their deepest insecurities to one another. Willig expertly uses historical details in her seamless, well-plotted tale. This will entice readers from the very first page.
Customer Reviews
Ordinary Young Ladies Doing Extraordinary Things
Band of Sisters is Lauren Willig’s magnificent book about a group of Smith College students who leave their comfort zones, to provide humanitarian social work and medical service overseas in France during World War II. Because of oppressive living conditions during World War II, victimized children were unable to attend schools or eat healthily. Families were separated and could not find their way back to each other. Necessary medical care was difficult to access. These are some of the situations with which the Smith students helped. Though they all attended the same school, they were not cut from the same cloth. Each one had her own personality and way of doing things - which at the same time, created interpersonal friction and yet also made them more effective than doubters believed that they could ever be.
Simply put, they were ordinary young ladies doing EXTRAORDINARY things. This book would be riveting enough, if the characters had been fictional; however, they are based on actual Smith College students, and many of the events were factual! And at the end, the book introduces the real ladies! I have 275 books in my library, and this is the best book that I have read in several years. I hope that it will be made into a movie!
Band of Sisters
Whew!!