Publisher's Synopsis
This book tells the story of one family's experience during World War II. The story is woven around the letters of Jake and Jean, which were written during the four years from 1942 to 1945 when Jake was serving in the US Marines. Jake served in the best of places (the Bahamas) and the worst of places (Okinawa). Their first child was born while Jake was island hopping in the Pacific. This is not the story just of Jake and Jean but also of other members of their families, both those left behind on the home front and those who served in other theaters of the war. How did the members of these two families remain calm in the midst of the swirl of emotions caused by the war? The letters never directly mention the horrors of war that surrounded the deployed soldiers. The letters all attempt to carry on ordinary daily life in a world that had gone mad. The letters focus on preserving the routine activities of daily life and on developing a measure of patience and compassion for other people even during the storm of war.
