Band of Sisters
Lauren Willig has been a must read author for me for many years. She takes unknown stories from history and then weaves and extraordinary tale that keeps me up late into the night reading, and Band of Sisters is another historical fiction masterpiece.
This is a sweeping tale of bravery, sisterhood, and friendship set amid the challenges of World War I, and brings to light a significate part of history that has never been told.
Based on the true story of a group of women from the Smith College Relief Unit who went to France during World War I. Eighteen “Smithies” went to France in 1917 to do good deeds where they could, not fully knowing what lay in front of them.
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.
Band of Sisters covers so much and weaves in both fact and fiction seamlessly. Willig’s style of writing makes the story fly by, and before I knew it I was already halfway through the book. This epic story is so full of rich historical details, making it one of the most well-researched stories I’ve ever read. I cannot imagine the amount of time and heart Willig put into her research or applaud it enough, and then to turn it into a truly captivating story is a work of literary genius.
From the very beginning I was rooting for this rag-tag group of tenacious women to succeed. There were also times when I was holding my breath and had a death grip on the book as I read about the risks they had to take during the war. I’m so amazed by the numbers of French families the “Smithies” saved from death and starvation. Also, their bravery to continue to transport families away from the front with the Germans right on their heels is like nothing I’ve ever read before.
Band of Sisters is a testimony to the enduring strength of female bonds and friendships. And, for those who like a bit of romance you won’t be disappointed. This story is a masterpiece that stayed with me long after I read it, and I found myself truly missing the characters several weeks after finishing the book.
Do not let the size of this book detour you. Band of Sisters is a valuable story that will leave you with heartwarming inspiration. Please don’t miss out on this one!
Thank you William Morrow for the gifted copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.
