A Woman's Place
by Lynn Austin
Published by Bethany House
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Reviewed by Debra Kiefat
In December 1941 Japan launched a surprise attack against Pearl Harbor causing widespread panic and devastation. President Roosevelt meets with high-level Washington officials and is expected to ask Congress to declare war. While the President is getting ready to declare war, every home in Seneca, Michigan is focused on the radio, listening intently to news reports for updates on what the United States plans to do.
A Woman's Place is about four women who answer the call to do something useful related to the war effort.
Virginia, an easily intimated housewife, breaks the mode of what an ideal housewife is, according to her husband, or so she thinks. Neither she nor her husband is prepared for the confident and strong woman she becomes.
Rosa is street wise and newly married to a sailor she barely knows. Living with her in-laws in a household with demanding rules, she discovers love and acceptance, despite her fiery nature.
Helen is lonely and elderly. A former school teacher, she is met with the skepticism that she is capable of menial work, however it is this call to the war effort that forces her to face her fears and befriend these women.
Jean is a natural leader and a twin. Her desire to become the woman God wants her to be collides with what her boyfriend wants in a wife. There has to be more to a partnership than just having babies and running a household.
This was a very satisfying book. Lynn Austin captured the call to arms through the lives of these women who wanted to participate in the war effort. Each of their stories reflects how they faced discrimination and conflict in a time when the roles of men and women were changing.
Armchair Interviews says: Unusual look at WWII from a woman's perspective.