Review: "When We Had Wings" by Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris, Susan Meissner

This is a novel of World War II but with an interesting twist. It takes place in the Pacific theater starting in 1942 in Manilla, Philippines. It follows three friends, all nurses from either the Army or Navy. One nurse is Filipino and dreams of coming to the United States, one is running away from an affair that wasn’t what she thought, and one is trying to forget her failures as a wife and mother. None of the three had any inkling of the horrific disaster about to befall the idyllic island and how their lives would change or the Hell they would endure.

The three authors did a fantastic job seamlessly weaving the story lines together. They created a narrative involving a subject that I hadn't previously read anything about, the women who were POWs during World War II. It is heart breaking, gut wrenching and emotional and I couldn’t put it down.

If you are a historical fiction fan, you will want to read this book. It presents a story of women who are not often mentioned in this time period. All they witnessed and endured deserves to be recognized.

I requested and reviewed this book for NetGalley.