Today We Go Home

June 1, 2019
Two women, separated by a century and a half, survive life in the United States military in Estes' suspenseful, neatly structured second novel. Larkin Bennett has recently returned home to the state of Washington after a stint in Afghanistan, suffering from PTSD and mourning the death of her best friend and fellow soldier, Sarah. As she cleans out Sarah's storage locker, she discovers the diary that Sarah said inspired her to become a soldier. It belonged to Emily Wilson, who grew up on a farm in Indiana and, during the Civil War, changed her name to Jesse and posed as a man in order to join the Army. Estes (The Girl Who Wrote in Silk, 2015) moves smoothly between the stories of Larkin, who with the help of her grandmother and other friends and relatives begins to find her way back into civilian life, and Emily, who both faces the horrors of war and starts to recognize the freedom inherent in appearing to others as a man. Estes includes passages from the (fictional) diary but primarily reveals Emily in the third person. Although the historical dialogue is occasionally anachronistic (would anyone in the 1860s say, "Yeah, me too"?) and the contemporary dialogue is sometimes overloaded with facts about the past, both central characters are credible and well developed. They're surrounded by equally intriguing secondary characters, including Emily's brother Ben and fellow soldier Willie and, in the contemporary sections, Sarah's brother, Zach, with whom Larkin forms a tentative relationship. Though it would have been easy to make Emily the more compelling character, Larkin's struggles with survivor's guilt and the day-to-day issues of recovering from war make her story just as riveting. The novel brings the Civil War era to life and effectively links it to contemporary times.

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September 30, 2019
Estes (The Girl Who Wrote in Silk) delivers a decent dual-narrative novel about the women who’ve served in America’s armed forces, both those who did so in disguise historically and those who serve today. Captain Larkin Bennet has returned to her grandmother’s house in Woodinville, Wash., after receiving a medical discharge following tours in the military police in Afghanistan
, which ended with an explosion that killed her best friend, Capt. Sarah Faber. Sarah has left her effects to Larkin, including a diary of her ancestor, Emily Wilson, who disguised herself in order to serve alongside her brother, Ben, in the Civil War. Larkin suffers from PTSD, resents the way women in the armed services are treated by male members of the military and civilians, and has feelings of guilt over Sarah’s death. In alternating chapters, Emily tells her own story, one that helps Larkin move forward in the present. Estes is sometimes heavy-handed in pointing out the parallels between Larkin’s and Emily’s stories and is a little clumsy in inserting informational passages. Still, the book does convey some of the extreme challenges facing women in the military. The result is a purposeful and competent tribute to American women in uniform.

July 1, 2019
Larkin Bennett is a veteran who left the army after a horrible tragedy that resulted in the death of several civilians and her best friend, Sarah. She heads to her grandmother's house to recover from her PTSD. Drinking too much and with nightmares plaguing her, she finds only small comfort from her supportive family. After discovering a diary among Sarah's possessions of a young woman named Emily Wilson, Larkin becomes obsessed. Emily was no ordinary young woman?she disguised herself as a man and served as a soldier during the Civil War. She and her younger brother enlisted after her father and older brother were killed in battle. Pairing the dual narratives of Larkin and Emily, Estes relates the hardships faced by women who serve in the military, both from the enemy and from misogynistic fellow soldiers. Larkin and Emily's stories are equally fascinating and eye-opening. Based on the real-life stories of women who served, this is an excellent read and highly recommended for every public library.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)