I’ll Be Seeing You by Suzanne Hayes and Loretta Nyhan

• Title:  I’ll Be Seeing You
• Authors:  Suzanne Hayes & Loretta Nyhan
• Genre:  Historical Fiction
• Published:  May 2013 – Harlequin MIRA
• Source:  Publisher

My take:  In 1943, Gloria Whitehall, a young wife and mother from Rockport, Massachusetts and Rita Vincenzo, also a wife and mother from Iowa City, Iowa, become pen pals when their husbands (and Rita’s son) go off to war. Through good times and bad they become each other’s confidante and advisor.

Gloria (Glory) is in her early 20s and quite wealthy. Rita is almost 41 and the wife of a college professor. Despite their obvious differences the two form a treasured bond.

The novel is epistolary – a style I always enjoy. Through their letters the reader learns how life was on the home front – in Iowa and Massachusetts. Included in many letters are recipes the women exchanged with the appropriate ingredient substitutions that were required in wartime.

The reader also learns the personal turmoil experienced by both women. Life wasn’t a 1940s wartime movie for Glory and Rita, that’s for certain. Authors Nyhan and Hayes found a balance between the everyday and the dramatic that kept me anxious to pick the book up each day. I had to know what was new in Rita and Glory’s life – that’s a sure sign of a good book.

I really liked I’ll Be Seeing You and recommend it to fans of the era and epistolary novels.

Note:  If you’re like me, you’ll want to have a box of tissues nearby when you get to the end.