WHEN WE HAD WINGS

This audiobook opens when three young nurses stationed in the Philippines become fast friends at the outset of U.S. involvement in WWII. Saskia Maarleveld captures the naïve optimism of Army nurse Penny, Navy nurse Eleanor, and Filipina nurse Lita in their early, glamorous days together in Manila. With the arrival of the Japanese army, the trio's tropical idyll turns to turmoil, and Maarleveld's tone reflects the nurses' deep commitment to their work despite the horrors of war. In chapters that alternate their points of view, the nurses become prisoners of war in different locations. This audiobook would have been better served by three narrators, allowing the listener to more easily keep the thread of each character. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing fictional account of the real Angels of Bataan. N.M.C. © AudioFile 2022, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2022]