Home Front by Kristin Hannah

     All marriages have a breaking point. All families have wounds. All wars have a cost…
     Like many couples, Michael and Jolene have to face the pressures of everyday life—children, careers, bills, chores—even as their twelve year marriage is falling apart. Then an unexpected deployment sends Jolene deep into harm’s way and leaves defense attorney Michael at home, unaccustomed to being a single parent to their two girls. As a mother, it agonizes Jolene to leave her family, but as a soldier she has always understood the true meaning of duty. In her letters home, she paints a rose-colored version of her life on the front lines, shielding her family from the truth. But war will change Jolene in ways that none of them could have foreseen. When tragedy strikes, Michael must face his darkest fear and fight a battle of his own--for everything that matters to his family.
     At once a profoundly honest look at modern marriage and a dramatic exploration of the price of war on an ordinary American family, HOME FRONT is a story of love, loss, heroism, honor and ultimately, hope.

I've read and enjoyed several books by Kristin Hannah.  Last year, I enthused about Night Road.  I was anxious to pick up Home Front, which give a twist to a military family facing deployment scenario.  The mother is the one going to war and even though she tells her family that she'll be way behind enemy lines, things don't quite work out that way.

Home Front is a very, very emotional look at a family in crisis.  I was caught up in the story and had a hard time setting it aside to take care of daily life.  Some readers may feel that this author pulls at the heart strings too firmly and she does in some ways.  She also does a good job, in my opinion, with opening our eyes to some of the trials and frustrations our military families face each day.  I was very touched by the sacrifices depicted and it tore at my heart reading some of the "daily" duties that soldiers must perform when they are "in country".  How could we possibly repay them and how could we expect them to just come home and slip back into the fabric of their lives?

I grew up with a father who spent many, many years in the Army Reserve.  He did not ever have to go on active duty, except for his training weekends and camps in the summer.  If I had been growing up now, with the heavy use of the National Guard and Reserve forces, I would have had a father who was deployed, probably more than once.  We have some young friends who have faced 4 deployments by the husband, who is a Marine.  He's near the end of his time in the military, but he's gone into harm's way 4 times and come home unscathed, physically at least. 

There are many heavy themes included in Home Front.  Kristin Hannah spent a lot of time with a female Black Hawk helicopter pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Five Teresa Burgess.  She interviews her here:

 

For me, this was a solid family story and I can recommend it.  Here's a last quote:

"Heroes...they are heroes, our soldiers, the men and women who go into harm's way to protect us, our way of life.  It doesn't matter what you think of the war, you have to be grateful to the warriors, of whom we ask so much.  To whom we sometimes give too little."

"A soldier is taught to be strong and brave...not to need anyone...but how do you help someone deal with horrors you can't imagine?  And how does a soldier come home from war, really?  As a nation, these are questions we need to ask ourselves."