Good Night, Irene: A Novel
This New York Times bestselling novel tells an exhilarating World War II epic that chronicles an extraordinary young woman's heroic frontline service in the Red Cross.
"Urrea's touch is sure, his exuberance carries you through . . . He is a generous writer, not just in his approach to his craft but in the broader sense of what he feels necessary to capture about life itself." --Financial Times
In 1943, Irene Woodward abandons an abusive fiancé in New York to enlist with the Red Cross and head to Europe. She makes fast friends in training with Dorothy Dunford, a towering Midwesterner with a ferocious wit. Together they are part of an elite group of women, nicknamed Donut Dollies, who command military vehicles called Clubmobiles at the front line, providing camaraderie and a taste of home that may be the only solace before troops head into battle.After D-Day, these two intrepid friends join the Allied soldiers streaming into France. Their time in Europe will see them embroiled in danger, from the Battle of the Bulge to the liberation of Buchenwald. Through her friendship with Dorothy, and a love affair with a courageous American fighter pilot named Hans, Irene learns to trust again. Her most fervent hope, which becomes more precarious by the day, is for all three of them to survive the war intact.
Taking as inspiration his mother's own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea has delivered an overlooked story of women's heroism in World War II. With its affecting and uplifting portrait of friendship and valor in harrowing circumstances, Good Night, Irene powerfully demonstrates yet again that Urrea's "gifts as a storyteller are prodigious" (NPR).
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Community Reviews
These women were recruited by the Red Cross to drive into war zones in Clubmobiles (a big old food truck, basically), doling out coffee, donuts, good cheer (and a little bit more) to the Allied soldiers. Seems like a frivolous thing, but it meant a lot to the men who saw nothing but death and darkness otherwise. These women also put themselves in harm's way by being in the thick of the war, and some did not survive.
This book was actually inspired by the author's mother, who was one of the Dollies. She survived but had a harrowing experience during her service, and he built a fictional story around her real life.
Really interesting and enlightening!
This incredible work of historic fiction brings to life the lives of a very special group of Red Cross women who served right along side the GIs of WWII. Manning cumbersome vehicles known as Clubmobiles, they served front line soldiers coffee, donuts and endless hours of support and empathy. The novel follows closely the route the author's mother and her fellow comrades took across Europe and across time. Each character is vividly drawn (wether from fact or fiction), each scene cinematic. A must read!
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