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Book Summary

Reviewed by Stephanie Dunnewind

Fifteen-year-old Octavia and her 17-year-old sister Tali must drive across the country with their stiletto shoes-wearing, cigarette-smoking grandmother, who insists they call her by her first name, Mare. Neither teen is happy about it, but both are slowly drawn into Mare's stories about her own youth, when she ran away from her poor Alabama home at 16 and joined the Women's Army Corps. In alternating chapters, the narration switches from their road trip to Mare's first-person account of her time in training and then in service overseas with an African American WAC unit.

Is It Any Good?

4

Teens might relate more to Octavia and Tali, but Mare's story is the more compelling as she transforms from a poor farm girl to buff soldier. Her African-American WAC experiences highlight a rarely seen side of World War II, inspired by the author's research into her own grandmother's life. Davis keeps the history personal and fresh with Mare's strong voice.

The contrast between the whiny, spoiled contemporary teens and their hard-working grandmother is often jarring; readers may find themselves skimming the "now" chapters to reach the next "then."

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