Home Front by Kristin Hannah, Macmillan, $24.99
“I have nothing in common with those people,” reveals reluctant party-goer Michael to his wife Jolene, on the eve of her 41st birthday do with her military workmates.
“I am those people,” replies the United States Army Black Hawk helicopter combat pilot.
Dedicated to the men and women of the US forces, this is polished Hannah’s twentieth novel, but the one she says she had the most difficulty writing, because of her determination to do the military proud.
Mid-life marriage shock aside — as her lawyer husband announces that he doesn’t love her anymore — the mum with the “best part time job in the world”, must also battle pre-teen daughter Betsy’s embarrassment at a mom in a flight suit.
But domestics will always be trumped by war, and when Jolene is suddenly deployed to Iraq, the household is literally blown apart — a minefield both in small-town Poulsbo,Washington where Michael must become full-time dad, and in the cockpit where the mum of two dodges death for her country.
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