The Lines Between Us

De: Amy Lynn Green

Narrado por: Leah Horowitz

A WWII novel of courage and conviction, based on the true experience of the men who fought fires as conscientious objectors and the women who fought prejudice to serve in the Women's Army Corps.

Since the attack on Pearl Harbor, Gordon Hooper and his buddy Jack Armitage have stuck to their values as conscientious objectors. Much to their families’ and country’s chagrin, they volunteer as smokejumpers rather than enlisting, parachuting into and extinguishing raging wildfires in Oregon. But the number of winter blazes they’re called to seems suspiciously high, and when an accident leaves Jack badly injured, Gordon realizes the facts don’t add up.

A member of the Women’s Army Corps, Dorie Armitage has long been ashamed of her brother’s pacifism, but she’s shocked by news of his accident. Determined to find out why he was harmed, she arrives at the national forest under the guise of conducting an army report…and finds herself forced to work with Gordon. He believes it’s wrong to lie; she’s willing to do whatever it takes for justice to be done. As they search for clues, Gordon and Dorie must wrestle with their convictions about war and peace and decide what to do with the troubling secrets they discover.

©2021 Amy Lynn Green (P)2021 Recorded Books

Intolerable Voice & Development of a Character

Despite my usual enjoyment of historical novels and good mysteries with a strong woman character,, I could not get through this book. That is very rare for me; as a reader, I pride myself with giving an author and the story they craft a complete read.

However, the voice, thoughts, and actions of one of the two main women characters (the sister of a seriously injured WWII conscientious objector) grated so much that I removed the book long before its end. I waited as long as I could, because I kept hoping the author’s development of this character and the narrator’s tonal representation of her would render her more likable as the story developed. The premise and setting of the story were intriguing, but even some of the other characters were overly simplified by repetition. I think the character development suffered from this as a device to enlighten the reader of how harshly COs were treated during WWII but showing these through the sister quickly became frustratingly stereotypical. Disappointing because the themes of the story are timely.