The Fire by Night

A powerful and gorgeously written debut about two military nurses working on the front lines of WWII. THE FIRE BY NIGHT shines a light on the American women who were as brave as any band of brothers, but whose heroic roles in World War II have mostly been left unsung. Perfect for fans of Sara Gruen, THE NIGHTINGALE and ALL THE LIGHT WE CANNOT SEE, as well as military history buffs.

1943: World War II engulfs three continents. At its heart stand two women: U. S. Army nurses whose extraordinary heroism you have never heard of but will never forget.
In war-torn France, Jo McMahon, an Italian-Irish girl from the tenements of New York City, tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift field hospital. Enemy bombs have destroyed her unit, and now Jo single-handedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent as German troops advance. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of her patients, a Scottish officer, but Jo’ s heart is seared by the pain of all she has lost and seen. Nearing her breaking point, she fights to hold on to joyful memories of the past, to the times she shared with her best friend, Kay Elliott, who she met in nursing school.
Half a world away in the Pacific, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila, one of thousands of men, women, and children whose fates rest in the hands of a sadistic enemy. Far from the small Pennsylvania town of her childhood, Kay clings to memories of her days posted in Hawaii, and the handsome Navy flyer who swept her off her feet in the weeks before Pearl Harbor. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can . . . and live to see her beloved friend Jo once more.
When the conflict at last comes to its end, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their places— and the hope of love— in a world that’ s forever changed.
With rich, superbly researched detail, Teresa Messineo’ s thrilling novel brings to life the pain and uncertainty of war and the sustaining power of love and friendship, and illuminates the lives of the women who risked everything to save others during humanity’ s darkest hour.