Home and Away
A Story of Family in a Time of War
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4.7 • 3 Ratings
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
David French, potential independent candidate for the 2016 presidential election, and his wife Nancy deliver a powerful story of what happens when a person--or rather, a family--answers the call to serve their nation. David French picked up the newspaper in the comfort of his penthouse in Philadelphia, and read about a soldier - father of two - who was wounded in Iraq. Immediately, he was stricken with a question: Why him and not me?
David was a 37-year-old father of two, a Harvard Law graduate and president of a free speech organization. In other words, he was used to pushing pencils, not toting M16s.
His wife Nancy was raising two children and writing from home. She was worrying about field trips and playdates, not about her husband going to war.
HOME AND AWAY chronicles not just a soldier at war, but a family at war - a husband in Iraq, a wife and children at home, greeting each day with hope and fear, facing the challenge with determination, tears, and more than a little joy.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This husband-and-wife account of a year in wartime Iraq (2007 2008) artfully captures the mixed emotions that can accompany a loved one's decision to enlist and illustrates that friendship, hope, and humor are vital to survival. David was 37 when, inspired by a New York Times article about a soldier his age, he thought, "Why not me?" and told Nancy he wanted to put aside his job as head of a free-speech nonprofit organization to become a military reservist. His marching orders: a year-long stint as a judge advocate (JAG) officer with a combat regiment in Iraq. David's chapters offer a look at his daily life, from making friends to grieving for them, living in a tent and missing his family. Nancy writes of coming to terms with her new single mother status and self-improvement campaign: "I wanted David to return not just to an intact family, but to a better family." Religion and politics are prominently featured, whether David's thoughts on the image versus reality of the American military or Nancy's efforts to persuade fellow Christians to vote for Mitt Romney, a Mormon. Ultimately, she writes, the experience made them "less skittish about duty, and even a tad more in love." An earnest and engaging read that prompts a closer look at patriotism and citizenship, on battlefields and at home.
