From New York Times bestselling author Jennifer Chiaverini a bold revelatory novel about one
of the great untold stories of World War I-the women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps who broke
down gender barriers in the military and battled a pandemic as they helped lead the Allies to
victory. An eye-opening and detailed novel about remarkable female soldiers. . . Chiaverini
weaves the intersecting threads of these brave women's lives together highlighting their deep
sense of pride and duty.-Kirkus Reviews In June 1917 General John Pershing arrived in France
to establish American forces in Europe. He immediately found himself unable to communicate with
troops in the field. Pershing needed telephone operators who could swiftly and accurately
connect multiple calls speak fluent French and English remain steady under fire and be
utterly discreet since the calls often conveyed classified information. At the time nearly
all well-trained American telephone operators were women-but women were not permitted to enlist
or even to vote in most states. Nevertheless the U.S. Army Signal Corps promptly began
recruiting them. More than 7 600 women responded including Grace Banker of New Jersey a
switchboard instructor with AT&T and an alumna of Barnard College Marie Miossec a Frenchwoman
and aspiring opera singer and Valerie DeSmedt a twenty-year-old Pacific Telephone operator
from Los Angeles determined to strike a blow for her native Belgium. They were among the first
women sworn into the U.S. Army under the Articles of War. The male soldiers they had replaced
had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in ten
seconds. Deployed throughout France including near the front lines the operators endured
hardships and risked death or injury from gunfire bombardments and the Spanish Flu. Not all
of them would survive. The women of the U.S. Army Signal Corps served with honor and played an
essential role in achieving the Allied victory. Their story has never been the focus of a
novel...until now.
