“An inspiring tribute to female friendship and female courage!”–Kate Quinn, New York Times bestselling author of The Alice Network and The Huntress.Three women are brought together in an enthralling story of friendship, heartbreak, and resilience. Set at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, this is an amazing debut novel. Duty. Honor. Country. That’s West Point’s motto, and every cadet who … Honor. Country. That’s West Point’s motto, and every cadet who passes through its stone gates vows to live it. But on the eve of 9/11, as Dani, Hannah and Avery face four grueling years ahead, they realize they’ll only survive if they do it together.
Everyone knows Dani is going places. With athletic talent and a brilliant mind, she navigates West Point’s predominantly male environment with wit and confidence, breaking stereotypes and embracing new friends.
Hannah’s grandfather, a legendary Army general, offers a stark warning about the dangers that lie ahead, but she moves forward anyway, letting faith guide her path. When she meets her soul mate at West Point, the future looks perfect, just as planned.
Wild child Avery moves fast and doesn’t mind breaking a few rules (and hearts) along the way. But she can’t outpace her self-doubt, and the harder she tries, the further it leads her down a treacherous path.
The world—of business, of love, and of war—awaits Dani, Hannah, and Avery beyond the gates of West Point. These three women know that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. But soon, that adage no longer rings true—for their future, or their friendship. As they’re pulled in different directions, will their hard-forged bond prevail or shatter?
Beyond the Point is a heartfelt look at how our closest friends can become our fiercest battle buddies. After all, the greatest battles we fight rarely require a uniform.
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In BEYOND THE POINT, Claire Gibson writes a stellar trio of heroines–women I want to hug, women I want to befriend, women I want to be. Hannah, Avery, and Dani enter the male-dominated world of West Point as very different personalities, but they all prove tough as their Army boots as their friendship weathers the tests of school and life, faith and loss, love and war. An inspiring tribute to female friendship and female courage.
Duty. Honor. Country.
This is a great story and captures SOME of the tradition and grandeur that is the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. My oldest son graduated from West Point. I can vividly remember the first time I visited him there. I was overwhelmed with the history and majesty of the Academy.
This story spans from 2000 through 2007 and follows three young women as they’re accepted into the Academy, follows them through graduation, and then after some go into war zones.
This is a story of friendship, tradition, patriotism, hardship, and loss. I like the way the author portrayed the three main characters and brought them to life on the pages of this book. The young women were at the Academy when 9/11 caused such devastation to our country and the story shows the impact the events of that terrible day of terrorism in our own country had on some of the young people who all of a sudden knew they were going to be involved in a war when they graduated.
I highly recommend this book to readers of military fiction and stories about West Point itself and women in the military.
This is a fantastic debut novel about women and their friendships. It has three realistically written women as main characters who become friends and maintain that friendship during trying times. It’s amazing that this is a debut novel and I can’t wait to see what this author writes in the future.
Dani, Hannah and Avery meet when they start college at West Point. They all play on the basketball team and become good friends as they struggle with the workloads at West Point. All three of them are faced with discrimination against women at West Point as well as in their lives when they leave college and go out into the world. Their friendship is what helps them all through their bad times.
This is a wonderful novel about friendship and love and courage. I loved the three main characters and admired what they went through at West Point as well as in their lives in the military. I also like that the author wrote them so realistically and we see their flaws as well as their good points. I highly recommend this novel.
Thanks to goodreads for a copy to read and review. All opinions are my own.
A memorable story of friendship, love, loss, faith & duty. Both thrilling & heartbreaking.
Once I started this book, I could not stop reading! So glad I opened these pages.
Though not Christian fiction (the soldiers speak like “real life” soldiers, etc.), this story has a strong faith element that, for me, added depth to the choices & sacrifices.
My favorite quotes:
“Maybe hope is the only lasting change one human can give to another. And for the first time in my life, I have hope. You gave that to me.”
“Faith isn’t really faith until it’s beat up and put through a fire. When you’re crushed, you feel like you’re dying. But you’re actually coming to life. When you’re broken, that’s when the best of you comes out.”
“The point of life isn’t to quench our thirst, it’s to realize we’re thirsty for something that we can’t find here . . . Maybe this is faith . . . Maybe faith was having the humility to scream at God and the audacity to get up off the floor.”
“Maybe that’s what made a memory powerful. Not that it happened once, but that it happened over and over again on the screen of your mind.”
“Jesus was with his disciples and he got word from Mary and Martha that one of his best friends, Lazarus, was sick. And this is what blows my mind. It says, ‘Now Jesus loved Mary and Martha. So, when he heard Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days’ . . . Doesn’t that seem strange? He loved them, so he waited? When I think about love, I think of someone jumping on the first plane to come see me when I’m in trouble. But by the time Jesus arrives, Lazarus has already been dead for four days. Four days! He’s already in a tomb; Jesus missed the funeral.” She paused, letting that information sink in. “And when Jesus finally arrives, Martha doesn’t say, ‘I’m so sorry you missed the funeral.’ No. She says, ‘If only you had been here, none of this would have happened.’ She’s basically saying, ‘You could have prevented this, but you didn’t.’ It’s faith mixed with total confusion. ‘I believe, but I have no idea what you’re doing’ . . . Martha’s prayer is one of the most honest, raw prayers I’ve ever read in the Bible. ‘Lord, if you had been here, none of this would have happened.’ It’s her cry from the trenches. And Jesus doesn’t get angry with her. He doesn’t walk away. He cries with her.”
See my review on Goodreads
Great book – so glad I picked it up! The intertwining story of 3 women was so well written and even though I was crying at the end – I’ll remember this book for a long, long time. Thank you Claire – hope to see a sequel!
Beyond the Point shares the journeys of three girls before, during, and after they attend West Point. It is centered around the years leading up to and following 2001 and the attack on the World Trade Centers. This book was such an interesting read and I couldn’t put it down. I cried through the last third of the book, but thoroughly enjoyed it!
This is Claire Gibson’s debut novel. Claire has created a story of three fictional female characters that meet as young cadets. Her story is woven in a way that allows the reader to understand the intricate bonds of these women,
and grow to understand the tremendous trials they encountered as members of the Corps. You follow them as they struggle and learn that balancing their faith, friendship, love, loss, and duty to one’s country are all intertwined.
This novel is loosely based on Claire’s friendships and life experiences while living and growing up at United States Military Academy at West Point.
Read Beyond the Point— it’s a winner!!!
Review I really enjoyed this book. Three young women from very different backgrounds strike up a friendship while attending West Point. The bond was strong through thick and thin, beyond their college years. It gave me a view of life in the military that most people don’t see. I would highly recommend this book!
I knew I would love this book within the first 50 pages. Told from three women who come to attend West Point to play basketball. How that decision is made. They all play for an obtuse, prejudice, a-hole coach. We see how their lives play out after West Point and after unimaginable heart break. Heart break that bonds friends like no other. And when friends can love through that, something magical happens.
I highly recommend this book!