When the Men Were Gone

October 8, 2018
This WWII home front novel, sportswriter Lewis’s debut, lacks the drama that features in the Friday night games at the story’s core. In September 1944, the denizens of tiny Brownwood, Tex., lose their high school football coach to the Army when he reenlists after finding out his brother has been taken as a POW. Tylene Wilson, the school’s assistant principal, who knows the game inside and out, worries that if the Lions don’t take the field, bored young men will enlist early in the military. Still reeling from the death of her godson in the war, Tylene believes that she can protect other boys from the horrors of the battlefield and provide the community with a welcome diversion from the war by ensuring the season goes on. When no other suitable coach can be found, Tylene predictably takes on the task, facing strong opposition from those who believe coaching isn’t women’s work. Undaunted, and backed by her husband, Tylene strives to prove her detractors wrong. The woman’s empowerment angle is inspiring (Lewis’s book is based on true events), but the story ends where football fans would want it to start, at the beginning of the playing season, leaving the story feeling incomplete.

July 1, 2018

Sports writer Lewis's (Sportsday Bound) debut novel about a woman coaching a high school football team in 1940s Texas demonstrates the importance of timing--not only Friday nights on the field, but also in the moments when we let our children stay children for just a little longer, if we can. Against all odds, Coach Miss Tylene uses her wits and passion to guide these young men through one more season, before adulthood--and war--claims them. Tylene has moments of struggle and success, and fear forces even her closest loved ones' support to wax and wane as her foes cruelly undermine her. Through it all, Tylene's grace and dignity proudly serve her authoritative command of football strategy. Fans of Chad Harbach's The Art of Fielding will appreciate Lewis's understanding that sports are about so much more than what happens at a game. VERDICT Readers looking for stories about decent people doing their best or a good cry won't do much better than this heartrending read, which is sure to be a fall favorite of book clubs anywhere near a football stadium. [See Prepub Alert, 4/9/18.]--Nicole Steeves, Fox River Valley P.L. Dist., IL

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