Gone to Soldiers

In this “sweeping epic” ( ) of World War II, Marge Piercy moves from the United States to Europe, from the North African campaign to New Zealand, from Japan to Palestine, brilliantly recreating the atmosphere of the wartime capitals: the sexual abandon, the luxury and deprivation, the terror and excitement. interweaves the stories of ten remarkable characters: The New York divorcee and writer of romances-turned-war correspondent... her ex-husband, involved in intelligence for the OSS... Daniel Balaban, whose mission is to crack the Japanese codes... Bernice Coates, who escapes life to fly fighters as a Woman’s Airforce Service Pilot... a painter who parachutes into Nazi-occupied France to fight with the Resistance... Zachary Barrington Taylor, for whom war is the most exciting game... Jacqueline Levy-Monot, who leads Jewish children over the Pyrenees to safety... her sister, Naomi, a troubled adolescent... their cousin, Ruthie Siegal, a touching young woman who tries to keep alive her love for her boyfriend, while working on an assembly line in Detroit... These characters wage memorable and passionate public and private battles, as war casts them into their ultimate dreams and nightmares, daring them to act out their brightest and darkest fantasies. Written with unmatched authority about the cataclysmic events and passions of war, “is a literary triumph for Marge Piercy and a landmark volume in the literature of war” ( ).