One of the best books I have read. I knew
nothing about these women of the Army Signal Corps, who were called switchboard soldiers. Their story is patriotic, inspiring, and educational. This is historical fiction based on true events and real, courageous women who served faithfully in extremely difficult circumstances during WWI in France. I highly recommend this book. ( )

Fascinating story! I was glad for the afterward that told more about the real Switchboard Soldiers. It was a travesty that these women didn't get their due until the Carter administration. I appreciated a chance to get to know these characters. I appreciate the list of resources that was supplied as I may like to delve deeper into these brave soldiers. ( )

Woke up very early and knew I wasn't going back to sleep so pulled out Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini. I wanted to finish it and get it back to the library as I've already renewed it once and will be traveling next week when it is due. So, with nothing else pressing to do and a few hours until the dog needed fed and an insulin shot, I tilted back in the reading recliner in the bedroom and read. I put the afghan and pillow over my lap and Circe the cat arrived pretty quickly and settled in with me.

Aah...I was transported back to the front lines of World War I with a group of women switchboard operators who, with their skills as well as their ability to speak French, became soldiers in their own right. Chiaverini has a masterful way of combining historical events with personal stories. I learned a lot about WW I, including the use of passenger pigeons to send messages! I was also not aware of the ravages of the influenza epidemic during the war. Chiaverini includes it as part of her story.

I did a little searching on one of the real-life characters and found the very fascinating Gjenvick-Gjønvik archives that includes a wide variety of ephemera related to topics like the military and the influenza pandemic. It covers the "hello girls" and has a tribute to that particular character. ( )

I did not find out until the end that Grace Banker was a real person (Switchboard Soldier). Though I guessed that this was a true historical event (having female operators in communications in France), I thought that the author had used all fictional characters for the Switchboard Soldiers (though I thought probably based them on a conglomeration of real women who had served in this capacity).

Through Grace, Marie, and Valerie (and a few others) we get to see their decisions to answer the call, their training, their transport to Europe and the war zone, their work, their relationships, and their devotion to duty. The one thing that bothered me a little was not knowing how the relationship between Marie and Giovanni ended up.

For some reason, I kept forgetting this was WWI (not WWII). I also found the side story about influenza/Spanish Flu intriguing--it reminded me quite a bit of the COVID19 pandemic. It was a bit ironic that one of the people who was so diligent about recommending masks ended up succumbing.

I found it sad that these women enlisted "for the duration" and were some of the last ones to leave France/Germany but the US government decided they weren't veterans and didn't qualify for benefits or medals. (Which was kind of odd since Grace Banker was awarded a medal while still in France.) It took until 1977 for them to get the recognition they deserved (under then President Jimmy Carter). ( )

This novel tells the story of telephone switchboard operators - who were women -  for the United States Army's Signal Corps in World War I.  Colloquially known as "hello girls," the women were actually sworn into military service - although they did not receive recognition as military veterans until 1977.

Jennifer Chiaverini tells the story from the points of view of three women:  Grace Banker of New Jersey (who was real, the Chief Operator of the First American Unit), and the fictionalized Marie Miossec, a French immigrant in Cincinnati, and Valerie DeSmedt, a Belgian immigrant in Los Angeles.  Other characters in the book are both real people (like Inez Crittenden, the Chief Operator of the Second American Unit) and fictionalized - although I will say I wish Chiaverini had made it clear in her author's notes about who was real and who was not.

The book begins in August 1914, with Marie and her family learning of the outbreak of the war, then skips ahead to Grace in April 1917 and Valerie in August 1917.  Although their individual stories rarely converge, the flow is seamless from narrator to narrator.  The book ends with Marie leaving Europe in June 1919, as many women continued to serve during the occupation in Germany after the war ended in November 1918.

I can appreciate the work these women had to do, having operated a PBX switchboard (thankfully, only occasionally as lunch relief) for a city hall in the early 1980s, that was nowhere near as busy - nor as crucial.  The women had to speak French (and English) flawlessly, as they often had to be able to translate between the two languages on the fly.

This book was a fascinating look at a chapter in history I had not known about. ( )