We asked an enthusiastic publisher’s rep why we would want to read another war novel, and his reply was simple: “Read the first sentence.” We did, and found a poetic voice so strong and true that we believe this novel is destined for a very long life.
“The war tried to kill us in the spring,” begins this breathtaking account of friendship and loss. During the Iraq War, young soldiers Murphy and Bartle do everything to protect each other from forces that press in on every side: insurgents, physical fatigue, and the intangible stress of constant danger.
As reality begins to blur into a hazy nightmare, Murphy becomes increasingly unmoored from the world around him and Bartle takes impossible actions.
With profound emotional insight, especially into the effects of a hidden war on mothers and families at home, this is a groundbreaking novel about the costs of war.