Home Front

January 2, 2012
Jolene Zarkades has dedicated her life to two things: her family and her career as a helicopter pilot in the National Guard. Her 12-year marriage to Michael, however, is crumbling. A defense attorney, Michael has thrown himself into his work to cope with the death of his father and his feelings of distance from Jolene. After he misses their daughter's track meet, Michael and Jolene get into a fight that results in him declaring that he doesn't love her anymore. The next day, Jolene finds out that her unit is being deployed to Iraq; Michael is furious that she is leaving him to juggle single parenthood and his practice, and they part on bad terms. Her letters home to their daughters exclude the harsh truths of war, but while she's away, Michael starts to come to terms with how much he has taken for granted. Jolene's tour of duty is cut short when her helicopter goes down, killing a young man, severely injuring Jolene, and leaving her best friend Tami in a coma. When Jolene returns home, she must cope with her own anger, guilt, fear, and frustration. Michael begins to understand her situation as he defends a Marine whose PTSD made him kill his wife. Slowly, Jolene heals, beginning the process of coming to terms with her life. By reversing traditional expectations, Hannah (Night Road) calls attention to the modern female soldier and offers a compassionate, poignant look at the impact of war on family. 400,000 first printing. Agent: Andrea Cirillo, Jane Rotrosen Agency.

January 1, 2012
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior. The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene "Jo" Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She's served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael's increasing emotional distance. Jo's mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo's confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael's earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart. Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah's default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war's aftermath.

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Starred review from January 1, 2012

Hannah's (Night Road; Winter Garden) latest is an emotional, honest, and timely read that depicts the life of a military family from a female perspective. Jolene is a mother who protects her two children, Betsy and Lulu, with ubiquitous positivity, but she can't preserve her marriage with Michael and their growing distance and fading love. Michael has never embraced Jolene's job as a helicopter pilot in the Army National Guard, and their relationship grows more strained when Jolene and her best friend are deployed to Iraq. Over the course of her tour, Jolene is understandably changed--she's broken both physically and mentally when she returns home. And Michael, too, has changed. Can they try to love again with this new life before them? VERDICT Hannah has written a remarkable tale of duty, love, strength, and hope that is at times poignant and always thoroughly captivating and relevant. Buy multiples for her many fans. [See Prepub Alert, 8/1/11.]--Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.

Copyright 2012 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2011
Readers' favorite Hannah treads familiar domestic territory in her latest novel, the story of Jolene, 41, who struggles with her marriage, her 12-year-old daughter, and a traumatic relationship with her parents. She even has a plucky best friend who lives next door. But Home Front is different because Jolene is a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. Just when her marriage has neared its breaking point, and her children need her more than ever, Jolene is deployed to active duty in Iraq. She returns home seriously injured physically and emotionally and must learn to swallow her pride, accept help, and continue living in the face of heartbreaking loss. Hannah's characters are believable and lively, and her skillful treatment of this difficult topic will leave readers feeling moved and affected by the human toll of war, not lectured to about politics. This new offering after a string of best-sellers is sure to garner a lot of attention, not only because of Hannah's track record with readers but also because of its heartrending and timely subject matter. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: This standout for best-selling Hannah has a 400,000 first print run and will be strongly promoted with a national author tour and lots of media publicity.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)