Review: The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Two estranged sisters, raised in Brooklyn and each burdened with her own shocking secret, are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of WWII. While one sister lives in relative ease on the bucolic Armory campus as an officer’s wife, the other arrives as a war widow and takes a position in the Armory factories as a “soldier of production.” Resentment festers between the two, and secrets are shattered when a mysterious figure from the past reemerges in their lives.

Kindle Edition, 304 pages

Expected publication: January 22nd 2019 by St. Martin's Press 

Genre: Historical Fiction

Kristine's Thoughts:

** I received an advanced readers copy from St. Martin's Press via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!**

Wartime Sisters followed the lives of Ruth and Millie, two sisters who couldn't be more different. Ruth was the older sister who's resentment started the day Millie was born. She couldn't help but notice how everyone talked about how beautiful her younger sibling was and sweet and sensitive. Boys didn't look twice at Ruth after catching a glimpse of her sister. People were drawn to Millie and instead of being looked at as practical and obedient, Ruth was thought of as a cold fish.

Wartime Sisters took place during the war but the biggest war at play in this book was between the two sisters. When Millie found herself at Ruth's doorstep, resentments and secrets surfaced as a page turning story unfolded. It was told from both sister's perspectives as well as a couple of other key players.

This book was thoroughly enjoyable. With short chapters alternating between characters I found myself getting lost in "just one more chapter" making for a very late night and a quick finish. The characters were well developed and what really impressed me was that I was able to see both sides of the story. I didn't find myself siding with one sister over the other. Sure there were some things that annoyed me about each sister but I could empathise and see both sides of the coin. I also really enjoyed the peek into life at an armory factory as well.

The Wartime Sisters was a truly enjoyable and engaging story about family, loyalty, rivalry, resentments and misunderstanding. A job well done!

About the Author

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a law degree from Columbia Law School. Lynda practiced trusts and estates law in New York City for eight years before moving out of the city to raise her two children with her husband. She wrote The Two-Family House while she was a student of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. The Two-Family House was chosen by Goodreads as a best book of the month for March, 2016, and was a nominee for the Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards in Historical Fiction. Lynda's second novel, The Wartime Sisters, will be published on January 22, 2019.

Connect with Lynda

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