Next To Love

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Next To Love by Ellen Feldman – 320 pages

A story of love, war, loss, and the scars they leave, Next to Love follows the lives of three young women and their men during the years of World War II and its aftermath, beginning with the men going off to war and ending a generation later, when their children are on the cusp of their own adulthood.
Set in a small town in Massachusetts, the novel follows three childhood friends, Babe, Millie, and Grace, whose lives are unmoored when their men are called to duty. And yet the changes that are thrust upon them move them in directions they never dreamed possible—while their husbands and boyfriends are enduring their own transformations. In the decades that follow, the three friends lose their innocence, struggle to raise their children, and find meaning and love in unexpected places. And as they change, so does America—from a country in which people know their place in the social hierarchy to a world in which feminism, the Civil Rights movement, and technological innovations present new possibilities—and uncertainties. And yet Babe, Millie, and Grace remain bonded by their past, even as their children grow up and away and a new society rises from the ashes of the war.

I loved Ms. Feldman’s earlier book, The Boy Who Loved Ann Frank (5 stars) so I was thrilled when this book was released. Not as good as the earlier title but I did like this quite a bit.
It was a very insightful look into war and how it affects three best friends; their relationships with each other, their spouses and their children.
It took me a while to get truly connected with the three main girls but once I did, I was easily able to wrap myself into their worlds.