Home Front / Kristin Hannah / 390 pages

The story calls attention to the modern soldier/wife/mother (Jolene) and the reversal of roles when she is sent to serve in the war in Iraq.  This leaves her attorney husband (Michael) to juggle two daughters, run a household and a law practice.  While flying her Blackhawk helicopter, she witnesses unimaginable scenes of carnage.  However, she writes letters to her daughters full of very benign activities shielding them from the truth.  The truth comes to all when her helicopter is shot down, killing one of her crew, seriously injuring her and leaving her best friend in a coma.  When Jolene returns home, she is filled with fear, anger, guilt and suffers from terrible nightmares.  Meanwhile, Michael is defending a soldier accused of killing his wife during a PTSD episode.  We read in the newspapers every day of helicopter crashes and soldiers dying, but we don't know their stories.  This made me think of the very real sacrifices that our military and their families make on a daily basis.