New World War II novel salutes the 'Angels of Bataan'
Do too many cooks spoil the broth? Apparently not, at least in the case of "When We Had Wings."
Three authors collaborated on this historical novel about the so-called "Angels of Bataan," the Army and Navy nurses who stayed at their posts and were captured when the Japanese overran the Philippines early in World War II.
Tennessee writer Ariel Lawhon, a specialist in historical fiction ("Code Name Helene"), joined with book club mates Kristina McMorris and Susan Meissner in what the trio describe as pandemic project. The results are fascinating.
In the summer of 1941, three nurses form a friendship in Manila. Eleanor Lindstrom joined the Navy Nurse Corps after a busted romance back home in Minnesota. Penny Franklin joined the Army and left Texas after losing a husband and a child. Angelita Capel, a Filipina nurse, dreams of immigrating to the United States and joining her sisters in the fabled city of Brooklyn.
For a while, their lives are almost idyllic among the old Spanish colonial buildings and the blooming frangipani. Then comes Dec. 7, 1941.
The Japanese target the Philippines almost immediately after Pearl Harbor. All three nurses are tending hideously wounded young soldiers. Penny is in an operating room in the bowels of the Malinta Tunnels, the underground bunkers in the U.S. defenses of Corregidor Island. Lita is laboring in a front-line hospital on the Bataan peninsula. Eleanor finds herself in a Catholic orphanage in Manila.
Then Gen. Jonathan M. Wainwright, cut off and out of supplies, is forced to surrender. The nurses find themselves in a tense situation. The Japanese do not recognize women in the military, nor did they ever sign the Geneva Convention on treatment of enemy prisoners. Some soldiers are clearly eyeing the women as war prizes.
Somehow, the nurses must keep together and keep on treating the sick and wounded, even in prison-camp conditions.
"When We Had Wings" is not on a par with Laura Hillenbrand's "Unbroken" or with J.G. Ballard's "Empire of the Sun." Still, it's highly competent popular fiction, and well-researched. The authors paint a portrait of brave, resourceful women who lift each other up through strong bonds. There's also room or a romance or three.
The Harper Muse edition comes with ready-made questions for book club meetings.
Book review
'WHEN WE HAD WINGS'
By Ariel Lawhon, Kristina McMorris and Susan Meissner
Harper Muse, $27.99
This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: World War II novel 'When We Had Wings' salutes the 'Angels of Bataan'
