Book Review – Home Front

by Kristin Hannah (Macmillan) ISBN: 978 0 230 75446 1

Home Front examines the devastating emotional and physical impact of war on a family and is an emotionally gripping portrait of a marriage in crisis.

After losing her alcoholic parents in a car crash, Jolene finds a new home in the army, becoming an ace helicopter pilot in the National Guard. Her lawyer husband, Michael, is violently anti-military. When Jolene is called up for a tour of duty in Iraq, conflict arises between her and Michael, and their two children.

While his wife is away, Michael learns about the horrific effects of post-traumatic stress when he has to defend a marine accused of killing his young wife. He experiences them first hand when Jolene is involved in an accident that changes her life irrevocably.  Each member of this family must learn to face their fears and learn to forgive each other in the face of the fragility of life.

New York Times bestselling author Kristin Hannah writes with depth and emotion and she gives us a timely, well-researched novel. Perhaps there was too much tragedy and death in the book, but the realism balanced out the melodrama.

Read it if you love Anita Shreve and Jodi Piccoult novels – or never miss an episode of Army Wives.

Anthony Ehlers
3/5