The Wartime Sisters

The Wartime Sisters by Lynda Cohen Loigman. New York: St. Marin's Press, 2018. 285 pages. *****

Two estranged sisters;  Ruth and Millie, raised in Brooklyn are reunited at the Springfield Armory in the early days of WWII. Ruth the older of the two resents how her parents have always doted on her younger, prettier sister, Millie. Breaking free from her sister's shadow after the death of their parents, Ruth enjoys her life as an officer's wife and her job at the Armory. When Millie arrives as a war widow and once again is the center of attention, old resentments surface and both sisters fear their secrets are about to be exposed. Told from both points of view, it is easy to understand how they each perceive the other as being the problem in their sibling rivalry. 

"During World War II, the armory again turned to women to overcome the labor shortage. By June 1943, somewhere between 11,300-11,800 people worked at the armory, and of that number 43 percent were women." Loigman has written a poignant story capturing that time in history and crafting a story that brings the reality of their lives to the reader.  Even in wartime, a hierarchy and snobbishness exist among the women workers and the officer's wives belying the strength that is required to survive the hard times. The Author's Note provides background on the Springfield Armory and is a welcome addition in the book. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will go on to read her first novel, The Two-Family House.

I received an ecopy for a review. 

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a law degree from Columbia Law School. Lynda practiced trusts and estates law in New York City for eight years before moving out of the city to raise her two children with her husband. She wrote The Two-Family House while she was a student of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College. The Two-Family House was chosen by Goodreads as the best book of the month for March 2016, and was a nominee for the Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards in Historical Fiction. The Wartime Sisters is her second novel and will be published on January 22, 2019. Follow her at http://lyndacohenloigman.com, Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lynda-Cohen-Loigman-Author-1707732082781276/ Twitter: @lyndacloigman.

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