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Claudia Barker's avatar

This is an important story and a great way to tell it through your engaging prose. I look forward to reading about the challenges and triumphs of these "sheroes."

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks so much, Claudia!

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Cheryl Breen's avatar

So looking forward to your next novel! I am sure all your research will make it an authentic and inspiring read.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Cheryl!

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Mathew Tombers's avatar

God bless you for doing this. The trauma of the women and the men from WWII was never really accounted for when they came back.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Mathew. You are so right.

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Connie Roesch's avatar

So glad you are shining light on these brave women, but of course it takes one to know one! ❤️

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Connie. Back at ya, my friend.

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Bruce Morrison's avatar

Can't wait to read it.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Bruce!

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Kellie Brown's avatar

This is important research and awareness you are bringing. My non-fiction book about music during the Holocaust has a chapter about the women who were captured in the South Pacific and taken to an internment camp on the island of Sumatra. Among those women was a large contingent of nurses. They continued to render what help they could to the other other women even as they themselves were at the brink of death from starvation and tropical diseases.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Wow—I hadn’t heard that story. Your book sounds fascinating—I’ll check it out. Thanks.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Hi Kellie. That’s such an important and inspiring chapter in the history of the war. There are a few novels about those nurses for readers who like to learn through historical fiction, including “When We Had Wings,” “The Fire By Night,” and “Angels of the Pacific.” You might also want to check out Vincent Lococo’s “Saving the Music.”

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Kellie Brown's avatar

Thanks for those recommendations. The nurses showed up in my book because some of them became part of a vocal orchestra, a choir of prisoners who sang versions of famous orchestral works on ah and ooh syllables, to lift the spirits of the other prisoners. https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-sound-of-hope/

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Carole Florman's avatar

Such a worthy subject for a novel. Looking forward to it.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Carole.

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Ron Joseph's avatar

Looking forward to reading #3

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Ron. I have to finish #2 before I get to #3! But that one’s cooking in my head too…it’ll be set in Lynn, Mass.

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Brian O'Halloran's avatar

Thanks for the sneak peek, Elisa. My mother in law was an Army nurse in the Pacific during WWll. Paula and I cant wait to read your next book.

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Thanks, Brian!

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Two Fish Books's avatar

Can’t wait for novel #2.

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Bevin Beaudet's avatar

I’ve been sharing with Elisa the experiences that my father shared with me after I went into the Army. He was the S-4 (supply officer) and later an ambulance company commander in the 47th Medical Battalion of the 1st Armored Division. He served the entire war in North Africa, Italy and Anzio. He had nothing but total respect for the nurses he served with. Through her much broader research, Elisa gets it!

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Elisa Speranza (she/her)'s avatar

Your father lives on through his stories! So grateful.

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Jan Brogan's avatar

This book sounds great. Can’t wait!

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Kathy Speranza's avatar

This sounds like a story that is way overdue! I can’t wait to read it. I have always said that nurses are like walking hunks of gold!

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