The Girls Come Marching Home

"This book is a moving portrait about what it’s like for women to come home from war. Kirsten Holmstedt interviewed marines, soldiers and airmen who lived through the Iraq war. These women were on the frontlines, and faced the same challenges that men do when they come home from war. Except when most people think about wounded warriors, they think about men. It’s a reminder that although both women and men experience war, we hear less about women’s experiences. Both male and female veterans need support after fighting prolonged conflicts, yet women warriors are often forgotten. Get the weekly Five Books newsletter The Washington Post did a great story the other day about the airforce pilot who was going to be the one to knock Flight 93 out of the sky on 11th September 2011. She is one of the first generation of female air national guard pilots, and she was fully prepared to run this kamikaze mission. When I was working on The Dressmaker, people would say “that’s such a cute story”. And I’d say, “This isn’t a cute story, this is an economic story and this is a war story.” When we think of war stories we think about men with guns, when there is so much more going on. People think of band of brothers. They don’t think of band of sisters. Because women are not seen as part of the war narrative in America, because their sacrifices in conflict zones aren’t known or understood, when women come home from war everybody expects them to go back to the way they were before. Women suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic insomnia, economic problems and dislocation within their family. Part of what Holmstedt is trying to do with this book is shake people up so they recognise what female war vets go through."