Review: Girls on the Line: by Aimie K. Runyan

From the celebrated author of Daughters of the Night Sky comes a stirring novel inspired by the courage, dedication, and love of the unsung heroines of the Great War.

 December 1917. As World War I rages in Europe, twenty-four-year-old Ruby Wagner, the jewel in a prominent Philadelphia family, prepares for her upcoming wedding to a society scion. Like her life so far, it’s all been carefully arranged. But when her beloved older brother is killed in combat, Ruby follows her heart and answers the Army Signal Corps’ call for women operators to help overseas.

As one of the trailblazing “Hello Girls” deployed to war-torn France, Ruby must find her place in the military strata, fight for authority and respect among the Allied soldiers, and forge a victory for the cause. But balancing service to country becomes even more complicated by a burgeoning relationship with army medic Andrew Carrigan.

What begins as a friendship forged on the front lines soon blossoms into something more, forcing Ruby to choose between the conventions of a well-ordered life back home, and the risk of an unknown future.

Kindle Edition, 368 pages 

Expected publication: November 6th 2018 

by Lake Union Publishing

****

Aimie K. Runyan has become one of my go-to authors when it comes to historical fiction off the beaten track.  Those women of history that left marks we rarely heard about in history class.  She researches and writes compelling stories that educate me at the same time as keeping me captivated, plus you can feel her passion for the story in her telling.

Girls on the Line takes place in World War 1 and told from the POV of Ruby a young woman wanting to do her part (reasons I won't divulge) and not states side but in France.  Her journey across the ocean is more than just a change of location but an inner journey of self-discovery, of self-worth and discovering who she is.  There is much she must overcome and it isn't an easy trek. 

Girls on the Line is a story of friendship, duty, trust, and family, with some love mixed in. The telling had me right in the action feeling the heartache and struggles taking place.

'...success is usually pretending you're capable of doing something until you are.'

I received an e-arc via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

 click on the cover to take you my review