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Books > Fiction > Genre fiction > Historical fiction
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?
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