I'll be seeing you

I thought this would be a sweet epistolary read about two female pen pals holding down their respective forts while their men were off fighting WWII - but I'll Be Seeing You was so much more than that. The two authors have distinct, unique voices and the letters they write to each other as Glory and Rita tell of their honest struggles to find themselves and stay sane, even if that means sometimes making less than honorable choices. The secondary characters they write about (and who make a few cameo appearances as letter writers) are also fully-formed, with their own fascinating backstories. Because each letter was only a few pages, it was easy to say “I'll just read one more and then I'll do laundry/call a friend/go to sleep” (just like eating one more potato chip...) and before I knew it, I had read the entire book in 2 or 3 sittings.

According to the postscript, the authors hadn't met each other before writing the book, and you can feel them becoming closer and more comfortable with each other as their characters do the same. I'm not sure they can duplicate that magic in a sophomore effort, because some of the novelty and magic will have worn off, but there's no doubt that they have created something special in their debut.