Band of Sisters audiobook

Katherine Moran lived in poverty as a child in Brooklyn, she won a scholarship to study at the prestigious Smith College for women and she never felt like she fitted in because all the other girls came from wealthy families. In 1917 a fellow Smith girl Betsy Rutherford is looking for volunteers to help displaced women and children living in appalling conditions in France. Kate’s former friend Emmie Van Alden convinces her to go, she’s one of eighteen women who join a group called the Smith College Relief Unit and her experiences in France will finally make Kate feel she did belong at the college and she deserved her scholarship.The women set sail for France, once they arrived in Paris they discover it’s a very crowded city and country is consumed by the war. When they finally arrive at the Chateau it’s in ruins and what hasn’t been damaged by the war had been vandalized by the German army and it’s inhabitable. Women, children and the elderly are living in terrible conditions and many are living underground in cellars, hungry and filthy. Band Of Sisters is based on true story about an extraordinary group of women, they endured dreadful conditions, worked long hours and while being under fire from the nasty Boche and witness firsthand how much the French women and children suffered during The Great War. They provided shelter from the harsh elements, food, emotional support, medical care and milk and education for the children. The suffering of the French people during WW I was unimaginable, the women from the Smith College Relief Unit really made a remarkable difference and it’s an exceptional wartime story that needed to be shared. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review, an outstanding and well written book by Lauren Willig and five stars from me. https://karrenreadsbooks.blogspot.com/

I listened to the audio book of Band of Sisters and have to commend the narration by Julia Whelan!!! She captured the character of the women of Smith College to perfection and I felt like it really added depth to the story telling. I read a lot of Historical Fiction set in WWII, so I was highly anticipating reading this WWI era book. The story is based on real life events told through letters written by the 18 alumni of Smith College who risked their lives in France to help villagers whose lives had been destroyed by the German army. These women are now known as the Band of Sisters from the Smith College Relief Unit. None of the women knew what they were actually signing up for when they volunteered to go to France....how could they even imagine facing such poor living conditions, the lack of resources and food, the missing and dead family members, the sickness and injuries of so many villagers. These brave women set up camp in a bombed-out chateau right behind the front line and went to work to do what they could to help the people in the village with little to no support from the British army. The story is told in such detail that you actually feel like you are on the front line with these dedicated Smith women facing the struggles, horrors and triumphs they faced together. I love reading unknown stories and this was an incredible one! It is a significant part of our history, one that might never have been told if it wasn't for Lauren Willig and should be read by any history enthusiast. It is a story that will stay with you long after you read it!

Those Smith girls must have been very good letter writers! Lauren Willig discovered a memoir that one of the girls wrote about their time in France during WW I. She was so taken with the account that she used the letters written to their loved ones back home to write this book. Although all the characters in this little band are fictional, they are based on real people AND what I loved the most is that the many adventures this group had in the book are based on real life as well. An engaging blend of history and fiction that sheds light on a group of women who did amazing things to help the French villages unfortunate enough to be stationed near the front. Many were destroyed at least twice and had to rebuild. I listened to this on audio (thank you, Harper Audio and NetGalley). This book will make you both laugh and cry. I especially enjoyed the letter excerpts before each chapter as they are so revealing of social conventions from that era. My opinions are my own.

Kate Moran, a Smith College alumnus and former scholarship student, has graduated and is trying to earn her living when she is contacted by her best friend Emmeline Van Alden. She is asked to join a group of Smith alumni who are going to help French civilians during World War I. She can't imagine being able to go, but when she is asked to take the place of a girl who dropped out, she agrees. The Smith group meets a scene of devastation far worse than they ever imagined, but they pitch in and do their best to help. Along they way, they are shelled by the enemy and hampered by bureaucracy at every turn. Kate and the others learn to face and beat these challenges and more. But Kate's biggest challenge may be learning to trust her fellow Smithies and rising beyond the label of "scholarship girl."This is a well written novel based on the true story of the Smith College Relief Fund and their work in France during World War I. Each chapter starts with an actual letter from one of the alumni. Some of the events described in these letters are incorporated into the book. The characters are well developed and interesting The concept of class in the midst of war is fascinating. Will the privileged hang on to their prejudices while people are suffering and the Kaiser is trying to kill them all? Willig expertly, through her well-crafted characters, shows the conflicts between classes and shows that people are not always as they seem. In many different ways, Willig reveals Kate’s struggles to see the truth about herself through her own eyes and not her perceptions of what others might be thinking. A little humor and a love story are also threaded nto this captivating tale, which fans of historical fiction and World War I fiction will enjoy.I received a free copy of this book from William Morrow and Custom House via Netgalley. My review is voluntary and my opinions are my own.

3.5 starsI received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Band of Sisters is a historical fiction account of the Smith College Relief Unit that brought aid to French villagers during World War I. In the author's note, Ms. Willig states that she took real events as inspiration for fictional twists. Instances that happen in the book are all taken from researched materials, particularly the Smith girls' letters to back home, and reshaped with some artistic license to create this story while character names are changed but heavily inspired by the real women. Debutante nonsense, her mother called it. Good enough for those that don't have to worry about getting their living. While the Unit was comprised of over ten women, the author brings the central focus to two, Kate Moran and Emmie Van Alden. They were former roommates and great friends during college but have drifted apart the six years after graduation. The chapters begin with letters from different Smithies, providing the reader with a more rounded look at the personality of the Unit, while the chapters alternate between Kate and Emmie's point-of-view. Kate went to the college on a scholarship, where Emmie comes from a powerful rich family; their falling out stems from Kate overhearing Emmie's cousin Julia, who is a doctor for the Smith Unit and gets a strong secondary character focus, calling Kate a charity case. Kate's feelings of inadequacy and not feeling like she fits in anywhere has her restless and agreeing to join the Unit when Emmie calls to ask. Emmie has her own feelings of inadequacy because of how respected and known her mother is, a powerful suffragette. Their friendship, finding themselves, and coming into their own is more the core of the story than I expected with the War more as a strong setting. To decency, the officer had said, and those who persist in practicing it.She would persist. She would.Knowing that the Smith Unit was real and the events I was reading that they endured and achieved were real, of course, add a richer and deeper feel and experience to the story. From the Unit traveling to France hoping not to be torpedoed, having to create plan z when nothing planned works out quite the way it had been envisioned, and to realizing they're going to have their homebase at Grecourt, in the Somme, which was much closer to the front than any had anticipated had me locked into the story. A few villagers grew close to the women but for the most part, the focus of the story stayed on Kate and Emmie and the navigating of their friendship and their self-growth. There was also a slow building relationship added between Emmie and an English solider that had him popping in and out, because of this you could say there was a romance element but I wouldn't go the full step of adding the romance tag. She looked at the six other remaining members of the Unit, huddled together around the trucks, each and every one of them a wonder, each and every one of them her sister. They had been strangers to each other when they arrived seven months ago, but now she knew each of them down to the bones, just as they knew her, better than she had ever known anyone. The ending brings the War more out of simply being the setting and into the story with the Smith Unit having to retreat from Grecourt, in what we now know was the Ludendorff Offensive. The War begins to touch the Smithies more personally and presently as instead of trying to help the French villagers rebuild, they are with them fleeing for their lives. Here is where I thought the story's emotions were felt the most and meet more of what I was expecting with a World War I setting in the Somme during 1917-1918. The ending felt somewhat abridged but the epilogue gives us answers and closure with a few letters to let us know where Kate, Emmie, and the rest of the Smithies highlighted find themselves after the War. Band of Sisters doesn't necessarily bring World War I to you but it does provide a well written way to sink into a historical fiction account, mainly through the eyes of two women, of the Smith College Relief Unit and learn about the real ways these women made a difference.

This is a remarkable story of the Smith College Relief Unit, a group of young women who went to France during World War I to offer assistance -- and it is out today!!

Band of Sisters by Lauren WilligPub Date: March 2, 2021The Women of Smith College Go to War. An incredible sweeping tale of bravery, sisterhood and friendship set amid the challenges of World War I.A simply wonderful tale of She-roes!Based on the true story of a group of women from the Smith College Relief Unit who went to France during World War I. Eighteen “Smithies” went to France in 1917 to do good deeds where they could, not fully knowing what lay in front of them.Based on real people and events, this outstanding novel follows these eighteen women of the Smith College Relief Unit. Each chapter begins with a short letter written by one of the Smithies to their loved ones at home. Old college personas and feelings remain as Kate, the former scholarship student, still feels awkward with her Mayflower descended wealthy fellow students. Willig so aptly taps into all of our lingering college insecurities. A doctor on their voyage over says, “You are just the right sort, not neurasthenic enthusiasts, but with a natural dignity and modesty without prejudice.” To which Maud, one of the Smithies, defines neurasthenic as “barmy, a fabulous old English term which roughly translates to mad or crazy. “Emmi did her best to look dignified and modest but wondered just how Dr. Van Dyke would know. Hadn’t they seen Miss Patton’s sherry flask or Miss Cooper’s hunched shoulders? Or maybe they were right, and Emmie was wrong, and this was all completely natural and normal when one was entering a war zone, and not the least – neurasthenic.”The vivid character development with individual idiosyncrasies make each woman stand out. From the indomitable Mrs. Rutherford to two female doctors, each woman is so well defined that you feel as if you know them. Emmeline Van Alden, Emmi as she is known, is a wonderful uber wealthy woman who is naïve in many ways but masterful in her genuineness, easily gaining French villager trust. She aptly teaches French children to play again after years of war, attempts to raise chickens and cows and generally appeals to all with genuine naivety and candy. Emmi’s warmth, unbelievable work ethic, endearing personal awkwardness and propensity to quote historical literary works makes her so perfectly imperfect. And when Emmi meets a British soldier and they commence an awkward but wonderful wartime correspondence based mostly upon quotes from old English literature, you can’t help but be enchanted. Willig’s love of Renaissance literature shines throughout this novel.Kate Moran, Emmi’s college best friend, reluctantly joins the unit and quickly becomes a leader in their group. Kate is one of drivers who must learn to maneuver a persnickety Ford Jitney and other wartime vehicles. Kate emerges as the Felix to Emmi’s Oscar or the Shirley to Emmi’s Laverne. Where Emmi is one big hug of a woman, Kate is reserved but keenly observant and routinely saves her fellow Smithies from danger and is a complicated yet wonderful woman who unusually befriends a wonderful young girl.Willig’s writing makes the story fly by as you root for these women to succeed and hold your breath during moments of severe wartime danger. The Smithies saved numerous French families from hunger and perhaps death and they ably transported hundred to safety when the Germans were rapidly approaching. Band of Sisters highlights the enduring strength of female friendships with a small dollop of romance, cows and chickens. Told with Lauren Willig dry wit and meticulous research, Band of Sisters is a gem that will stay with you long after you read it. Huge thanks to William Morrow for the advance copy. I loved it!

Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig is an inspirational WWI story featuring strong female characters! The title kind of gives that last bit away...This book gives voice to the unsung heroes and forgotten stories of more than a dozen American women, The Smith College Women, who served in France during WWI aiding in recovery and rebuilding. The author's note at the end of the book is especially important and I wouldn't want you to miss it! It goes into fascinating detail about the history, Willig's research and the inspiration behind the characters and narrative. Almost all of this book is based on true events or recollections of true events. It's really special. The narrative is captivating, the context is historically accurate and very interesting, and the female drama is totally realistic! Put that many women together for a long period of time and there's bound to be drama - no matter what their purpose or cause is - there will be drama. But despite their differences, they are united in one thing and that is to help the victims of German terror. I am thoroughly impressed with Lauren Willig's skill at creating such a complex narrative with so many characters and keeping them all straight. Similarly, hats off to Julia Whelan for the superb narration and keeping all the characters uniquely expressed. Thank you, NetGalley, William Morrow and Harper Audio, for a copy of this great book for review! I think I am going to go and read all of Willig's novels now...

Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig lifted up my spirits, not easy to do in the waning days of 2020 and with a story set in wartime. But Band of Sisters delivers on all fronts: fascinating historical details about World War 1 and an intrepid group of American college women; complex fictional female characters that ground the story and genuinely develop; succinct observations on how class, religion, and education shape relationships; and finally, that true sisterhood is messy but lasting. Lauren Willig creates a compelling narrative based on the true story of a group of Smith graduates who arrived in France in the middle of the war to do good works for the people of France, not the American troops. I loved diving into this little-known story about a war that doesn't get equal shelf space to World War II. Will be recommending on Satellite Sisters. An excellent book club choice.

This story resonated with me so much. I learned something new. I had never heard about the group of Smith girls who went to France in WWI. This is just such a great story of some strong, courageous women caring for needs that seemed to be forgotten in the ravages of war.

Band of Sisters stands out in the crowd of 20th Century-based, historical war fiction. Excellently researched and solidly told, Sisters is chock-full of believable characters, each with their own personality, and from varying backgrounds.Band of Sisters is a lovely tale based on the true story of a group of women from Smith College who journeyed to France to help out countryside villagers devastated by the ravages of World War I on the local French residents. Possessing little practical skills, save their determination, these dogged ladies find themselves accomplishing so much more than they dreamed possible. They treat the sick and injured and grow food for the villagers. They take off across the torn landscape in order to get supplies or deliver people where they need to go. They even scrape together their meager supplies to throw modest parties for the locals as well as the military men in the area.If it won’t ruin it for you, with this book I would recommend reading the Historical Note(s) at the end of the novel first. I don’t think this story made quite the impression on me it should have until I read these end notes and discovered just how much research Lauren Willig put into the novel, and how entrenched in true history the story actually is. The Historical Notes moved this novel from a 4-star to a solid 5-star for me. Willig details out what parts of the tale are true, where she had to bend the story a bit to fit a novel’s pacing, as well as the names of the real “Smithies” in the Smith College Relief Unit who went to France, along with her inspiration and sources for the story.I especially loved how the book was peppered with “quotes” from the various “sisters” of the Smith group. While spoken from the point of view of Willig’s fictional characters, the lives and stories of the Sisters women were based on the vast piles of letters and journals by Unit members housed in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. The book itself is based on Willig’s research into thousands of pages of source material, allowing her to lovingly recreate the group’s time in France and the lives of these incredible women.As an aside, along with the efforts of the Smith College ladies, the reader also gets a brief glimpse of additional volunteer women from Andover, Boston College, and Reed College, who also travel to France to assist with relief efforts.Hear from Willig herself on Band of Sisters on SoundCloud. And be sure not to miss the Book Club Kit for a Q&A with the author, photos of the real-life Smith College Unit, suggestions for further reading, and more! ~~~~~Drop me a Comment below and let me know what you thought of this review… And if you decide to read Band of Sisters (and I hope you do), let me know your thoughts on the book too!A big thank you to Lauren Willig, William Morrow’s Custom House Books, and NetGalley for providing a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.Band of Sisters released on March 2, 2021 and is available now in hardcover and large-print paperback from William Morrow & Company publishers. Get your copy today at bookshop.org – the online bookstore that donates 75% of each book’s profit margin back to independent bookstores. Over $13.6 million contributed since 2020!From the publisher: Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including The Summer Country, the RITA Award–winning Pink Carnation series, and three novels cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Karen White.#BandOfSisters#LaurenWillig#CustomHouseBooks#WilliamMorrow#NetGalley#BookShopTags/Shelves:General Fiction (Adult)Historical FictionWomen's FictionWorld War I2021 ReleaseMarch 2021 Release

Lauren Willig is an established author, but she is new to me. Band of Sisters, her newest release, has made me a fan. I read it free and early, and my thanks go to Net Galley, William Morrow, and Harper Audio for the review copies. It will be available to the public March 2, 2021. A group of Smith College alumni sail to France on a mission to help civilians suffering extreme deprivation during World War I. “They carry money, supplies, and good intentions—all of which immediately go astray,” says the promotional blurb, and that’s what happens. It’s hard to make plans when you don’t know which way the battle may turn or where bombs may fall, but these are plucky women, two doctors among them, and several of them are members of wealthy, influential American families as well. The story is based on actual women and events, and the teacher in me wishes I were still in the classroom and able to order sets of this excellent novel to share with honors students, girls especially, who need to see more of themselves in the study of American history. Our two protagonists are Kate and Emmie, best friends and roommates a decade ago, united in this adventure. Kate is the only woman among the “Smithies” that doesn’t come from money and that doesn’t pay her own way; she is led to believe no one else paid their own way, either, but it isn’t true. And this is a chewy, inviting historical truth that we don’t see often in fiction. Though social class divisions are every bit as present and sharp today, assumptions made by most Americans have become more generous. During the early years of the twentieth century, there was a widely held belief that rich people were better in other ways as well, whether they had earned their fortunes or inherited them. They considered themselves to be God’s own chosen ones, and their wealth was one more sign that the Almighty loved them a bit more than others. Poverty was considered shameful, a thing to be concealed; there were no government funds of any kind to help the poor, and if there had been, women like Kate would have just about died before accepting them. Taking charitable contributions was a sign of personal failure and possibly dishonesty to most people back then. And the truth is, Kate isn’t impoverished, and she surely hasn’t failed at anything, but she has to work to earn her living, a thing most Caucasian women in the U.S. didn’t do in 1917. She is horrified when, midway through our narrative, she learns the truth about her travel expenses, and this creates one of the crises within the story. Willig is a fine novelist. The pace never flags, and there’s never a moment of revisionism that makes me blink. She is true to the time period and the characters. Emmie’s character is a harder sell, to my way of thinking, because she comes from tremendous wealth, but her family has made her feel unworthy because of her physical appearance, and by the end of the book, I love Emmie as much as I do Kate. I’ve plucked a sample for you, a scene in which Kate and Emmie are evacuating an area which is being overrun by the Germans:[Kate] wanted Mrs. Barrett; she wanted Dr. Stringfellow; she wanted anyone who could tell them what to do and where to go. Grecourt looked different already, the anemones churned up by the tread of two hundred soldiers, tents dotted around the lawn, Maybe, if she closed her eyes and wished hard enough, she could make it a week ago; the ground bright with flowers; slipping into story time and holding Zelie on her lap while Nell read to the basse-cour children in French about little Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, joking with the unit around the supper table about their amazing ability differentiate between types of guns. But it wasn’t a week ago. The Big Bad Wolf was here, he was on the march, with his big, big teeth and big, big guns, and maybe she wasn’t the best the Unit could have, but she was what they had right now. By the time we reach this part of the story, I could not stop reading if I wanted to. It would have been impossible. The hardest characters for many writers are the children, and although we have no child protagonists, there are numerous scenes in which children play a part. How does a child act when he is traumatized by war? Willig is in perfect form here as well. I received both the digital review copy and the audio, and I used them both. At the beginning there are so many women introduced to us at once that I felt lost with just the audio, and so I listened and read along to keep track. The narrator, Julia Whelan, does a superb job with a challenging manuscript, changing her tone and point of view to let us know which woman’s point of view we are hearing. My only concern regarding the audio version—which is much easier to follow once you have learned the most important characters—is that the story begins with a lengthy list of the women that participated, and it’s not great to listen to. I recommend you fast forward the audio to somewhere between five and seven percent, and then dive in. I requested this galley because a number of Goodreads friends whose opinions I respect recommended it to me, and all of them were absolutely right. This book is a gem, and I highly recommend it.

Poignant, affecting, and incredibly immersive!Band of Sisters is an absorbing, stirring tale set in German-Occupied France during WWI that follows seventeen young American women from Smith College as they embark on a mission that doesn’t quite go as smoothly as planned, to befriend and use their own unique skillsets to provide relief, food, medical care, and education to the villagers whose lives have been decimated by war.The prose is seamless and vivid. The characters are courageous, driven, and resilient. And the plot, including all the subplots, intertwine and unravel into a sweeping saga of life, loss, secrets, insecurities, self-discovery, heartbreak, determination, survival, tragedy, and friendship.Overall, Band of Sisters is a rich, evocative, beautifully written novel by Willig that grabs you from the very first page and is sure to be a big hit with book clubs and historical fiction fans everywhere. I absolutely devoured it, and it is hands down one of my favourite reads of the year!Thank you to William Morrow for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.