The Innocents

April 1, 2007
Adult/High School-Writers have long associated America's entry into World War I with a loss of innocence, a theme Seebohm adopts in her latest work. The innocents of her title are identical twins Dorothea and Iris Crosby, who, as the story opens in 1911, are 19-year-olds enjoying a comfortable life as members of New York City's elite society. Their first encounter with helplessness in the face of horrifying death occurs when their personal maid loses friends and family in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Determined never to experience such feelings of inadequacy again, and moved by the grim news of the interminable war in Europe, the young women sign up as Red Cross volunteers the day after America declares war. Two years in a hospital tent tending to maimed and dying Frenchmen drastically alter their perspectives on both the present and the future. Seebohm depicts the destructive effects of war on participants on and off the battlefield, whether drawn by altruism, as in the case of the sisters, or by a continued need for glory, as in the case of a parallel story line involving Harry Forrester, a celebrated Harvard athlete turned fighter pilot. The author implies that for many, war's more insidious and depredatory effects come after hostilities cease and survivors contemplate a return to a normality they can no longer define or envision. This finely wrought book will move readers."Dori DeSpain, Fairfax County Public Library, VA"

Copyright 2007 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2007
The privileged lives of orphaned identical twins Dorothea and Iris Crosby--who are loved and supported by their older brother, George--are irrevocably altered by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, which causes them to give up college plans and carriage rides in Central Park to aid those devastated by the tragedy. Until World War I intervenes, their spirits are uplifted only by visiting France with a beloved former teacher. The Great War, however, provides the ultimate avenue for their charity: working in a field hospital in France, where they are known as " les anges" by dying soldiers. The twins' tragedy is known from the start, and nearly as inevitable is the subplot of Harvard star athlete Harry Forrester, who finds the same thrill and purpose piloting a warplane that he did on the playing field. But what is left after feeling the highs or ministering to the horrors of war? Seebohm's historical accuracy and the issue of war's aftermath are notable, but the title characters lack the dimension to make this novel truly involving, leaving it heartfelt but somewhat thin.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)