Girls on the Line

A Novel

By: Aimie K. Runyan

Narrated by: Kathleen Gati

Length: 11 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

“A moving tale of female solidarity and courage.” (Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network)

December 1917. As World War I rages in Europe, twenty-four-year-old Ruby Wagner, the jewel in a prominent Philadelphia family, prepares for her upcoming wedding to a society scion. Like her life so far, it’s all been carefully arranged. But when her beloved older brother is killed in combat, Ruby follows her heart and answers the Army Signal Corps’ call for women operators to help overseas.

As one of the trailblazing “Hello Girls” deployed to war-torn France, Ruby must find her place in the military strata, fight for authority and respect among the Allied soldiers, and work to secure a victory for the cause. But balancing service to country is complicated further by a burgeoning relationship with army medic Andrew Carrigan.

What begins as a friendship forged on the front lines soon blossoms into something more, forcing Ruby to choose between the conventions of a well-ordered life back home, and the risk of an unknown future.

©2018 Aimie K. Runyan (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Annoying narrator

The story was sweet. Lovely topic - I never knew the armed forces had switchboard operators let alone females ones at that, so also educational. However, I nearly gave up several times within the first hour due to the narrators grating way of speaking. If you can get into the “meat” of the book it’s worth enduring the narrator’s voice.

I really enjoyed this story.

Enjoyed the story and the performance of the narrator. A calming voice that brought the story to life.

Great historical fiction

A hard-to-put- down story. Great narrator, but occasionally hard to distinguish between Ruby and her beau.

Great WW1 Book!

I loved the story and writing. I learned so much about this war that is never studied before as the 2nd war is the I've I've always been more interested in. It's opened a dialog with my husband and we are exploring more from WW1.

The narrator's voice was rather choppy, but it didn't take away from the story too much.

A good story about WWI

As the author mentions in her note at the end, WWI is given little notice in the U.S. I barely remember studying it in history classes while WWII was a big fixture. I'm glad that this period is getting more attention. And similar to recent books about WWII, this book features the women's role in service. I'm not sure I knew what the signal corp did (broadly yes, but not how they did it) and I definitely didn't know that it was largely women who filled that role. The story was very good. I'm not sure if it is the writing or how the narrator read it, but at times the characters' speech patterns sounded stilted. It didn't truly hinder my enjoyment of the story, but it was noticeable enough to be an annoyance.

Poor narrator

Wish I had read the book instead of wasting a credit on this narrator. Her verbal pacing us poor and accents not credible.

Very captivating

This book brought you right into the time frame and lives of the girls of the signal corps. Very interesting to walk with them into the 1st World War. It felt very real.

Simple story, rich in history

This was a pretty simple story, but it described a part of history that I had never known or even considered before. I hadn't known that women held these posts during WWI and it was interesting to hear about how this part of history unfolded.

Perfect! A must read (listen) about strong women!

A perfect story of strong women working hard during a time when many thought they were better to be home in the kitchens and parlors seeing only to home and children.

Also a wonderful story of love and loss, change but with great longing for home still.

I could not stop listening to this book! wanting to know what would happen next in the lives of these strong women. The narration was wonderful also, adding appropriately to the authors superb story.

Don't miss this one if you love story's of great women doing the jobs thought to be for men, love a great love story, or the stories of our grandmothers, great-grandmothers and others blazing the path for us. (least we never forget their sacrifices for our country and us)

Lacking some depth but overall good read.

I have been listening to a number of books about the part women played in WWI and WWII. They were mainly unsung heroes as spies, developing the nuclear bomb in Oak Ridge, TN, and many others. So, I was very interested in reading about these heroes. I had never heard about these operators and the vital part they played in WWI. Unfortunately the information about their lives was largely overshadowed by the love story. However, it was an easy, pleasant read even if predictable. Would be a good book to take on a trip. I would have liked more depth about their role and lives at front. Possibly there isn’t much out there about it. Was glad about the information provided at the end about how their role was dismissed. This seems to be a pattern for women who risked their lives in the war effort. Overall, I’m glad Ilistened to this book even if it seemed more of a romance story than I was expecting.

Kathleen Gati was excellent with the delivery of the story