Inspired by the true story of the World War I American Women’s Hospital, Mercy Road is a novel about love, courage, and a female ambulance driver who risks everything.
In 1917, after Arlene Favier’s home burns to the ground, taking her father with it, she must find a way to support her mother and younger brother. If she doesn’t succeed, they will all be impoverished. Job opportunities are … opportunities are scarce, but then a daring possibility arises: the American Women’s Hospital needs ambulance drivers to join a trailblazing, all-female team of doctors and nurses bound for war-torn France.
On the front lines, Arlene and her fellow ambulance drivers work day and night to aid injured soldiers and civilians. In between dangerous ambulance runs, Arlene reunites with a childhood friend, Jimmy Tucker, now a soldier, who opens her heart like no one before. But she has also caught the attention of Felix Brohammer, a charismatic army captain who harbors a dark, treacherous secret.
To expose Brohammer means risking her family’s future and the promise of love. Arlene must make a choice: stay in the safety of silence or take the greatest chance of her life.
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I am not a big fan of books based during WWI. But this was a different twist and enjoyable. The willingness of women to serve as ambulance drivers in France during the war. The difficult circumstances and the dangers they experience as well as the horrors they witness affects the women. Mentally and emotionally drained, they struggle to complete their tasks. Though there is some romance in the book, the dedication of these courageous women keeps the book from being syrupy sweet.
Thank you to NetGalley and Lake Union Publishing for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
It was based on true historical facts with a romantic love interest at the same time. It had a g=eat story right up to the end.
This is not my usual genre, but I was attracted by the subject , World War I American Women’s Hospital. This is the story of an American woman ,whose father is a French immigrant, in Paris, Kentucky. Raised on a successful horse farm,one night in a tragic accident,she loses everything, and finds herself I’ll prepared to face the future where she is suddenly responsible for her family’s livelihood. Her only skill besides horses is her ability to drive and thus she finds herself part of the AWH as a woman ambulance driver.
This novel is full of fascinating history. Not just the history of WWI, the battlefields of France, but of the horrors of battlefield injuries, the conditions of battlefield medicine at the time, and most interesting the role women played in that arena. At a time when women couldn’t even vote, a group of female American doctors raised their own money, joined with the Red Cross and went overseas to help with the wounded and sick. The battlefield injuries encountered in WWI , in what was mostly trench warfare, were some of the most horrific injuries ever encountered. And at a time when field medicine had not advanced much beyond the techniques used during the Civil War, the women of AWH, especially the ambulance drivers, were I’ll prepared for the devastation they would encounter in war torn France. Ms. Creel portrays through her writing a realistic picture of the shortages, devastation and deprivation that comes with war. Her characters captured my heart as they suffer but persevere in almost impossible circumstances. She also manages to document the discrimination and double standards that women face in the work place. But rather than becoming a dreary novel full of pain and suffering, she seems to be able to paint a picture of strength, hope and resilience of humans when faced with suffering and pain. Somehow through the storms and fury, she displays the ability within us to find sunshine . Her characters, already strong women, grow and become even stronger, better for having survived this ordeal.
This book does not have the typical happily ever after I have come to crave in my fiction. Not everything is resolved in the epilogue. But I was still left with a feeling of hope for a brighter future and the feeling that if the main character could survive WWI she could survive anything.
Me. Creel includes a reading list at the end of the book that I found to be the icing on the cake. I am so glad I chose to take a chance on this book and hope others enjoy it as much as I did.
I am really on the fence as to whether I should rate this three stars or give a generous four star rating. The story is written as a fictional memoir of an American woman who suffers some personal setbacks in her life, volunteers to be an ambulance driver during World War I for the American Women’s Hospital and serves in France, but all the pondering, ruminating, and “telling” rather than “showing”, really drags the story down. The story itself is interesting, and their is a fair amount of historical detail, but I found my mind wandering as the main character was describing the countryside, mulling over all her thoughts and feelings, and deciding what she should do next. Her decision making also was less than stellar particularly near the end of the book. I think the author was trying to add some action and intrigue, but I don’t think it was done very well. This was just an “okay” read for me.
I know a fair amount about WWI and the American efforts in France before the US entered the war, but American Women’s Hospital was new to me. Loved Arlene’s journeys and the hopeful ending.
Interesting
This was well written. Surely, no woman knew what they were getting into when they signed up to drive the ambulance. Enjoyed reading this book.
I really enjoyed this book.
A wonderful read, with heartfelt characters.
It was good but i have read better period books. However, it did enlighten me as t yet another role of women in WWII.
Slow getting started but stay with it. Totally worth your time.
This book was based on fact – there really were women ambulance drivers during WWI – I would have liked more history regarding that – how did it form, was the group still in effect during WWII? There was a sweet romance thread throughout, but I really expected more about that war – not the gruesomeness of it all, but more of the history behind it. Nonetheless, it was a good book, held my interest and kept me reading.
Thank you NetGalley and Lake Union for this ARC. This is my own review.
It started out ok. The main character losses everything in a fire then leaves. She then joins a group to be an ambulance driver. Arlene Favier Is a somewhat likable person who falls for a friend she is reunited with. But there is also a dark character who has set his eyes on her. She has to make a big, huge, decision as to how to handle what she knows and it could ruin any chance of happiness she may have.
I personally didn’t like this book. I have read and loved this author’s work but this one just didn’t get it. The characters to me seemed on the fake side with the exception of Arlene. There was a few good parts but overall it was just not the book for me. I never got all caught up in it to the point that I could not put it down. I actually couldn’t wait for it to end.
I give this book 3 stars because I did finish it but I can’t honestly say I recommend it. It was just not for me.
When Arlene Favier’s family loses everything her father dies in the fire that destroys their house. When they realize that they have lost almost everything, Arlene knows it’s up to her to support her mother and younger brother and help her family rebuild some semblance of the life they knew. When her job search leads her to a job as a bilingual ambulance driver for the American Women’s Hospital in France, she ends up helping not only the people of France, but on the front lines during World War I.
Thrust into situations she has never faced before, she finds more strength and compassion than she realized had; and an unexpected love with a boy from her past, far from home. Every step of the way, Arlene showed courage and strength of character. A fictional work based on historical events, this was an engrossing read that had me emotional and teary-eyed reading about many of Arlene’s experiences. If you enjoy reading about strong women and World War I, I recommend this one. It was interesting to read and learn about another group, instrumental in a war, that I had not heard of to date.
Thank you to NetGalley for my advanced review copy. All opinions and thoughts are my own.
#MercyRoad #WWI #AmericanWomensHospital #AnnHowardCreel
A book about a girl from a horse farm in Kentucky that learns to drive an ambulance in war torn France.
This book kinda grabbed my attention from the first page! It was a quick book, I liked the characters and enjoyed the story! Thanks to Netgalley and Lake Union publishers for the early copy