Megan E. Bryant

Originally published in hardcover in 2017 by Albert Whitman and Company.

Glow

Jeni Enjaian

This book could have hit the sweet spot for me with the combination of discovered history with the added bonus of art and historic relics. From the first page, however, Bryant's narrative fell flat on its face, reading like an introductory attempt at writing from a college student. The reader struggles to distinguish between the voice of the two protagonists, Julie (Jubilee) and Lydia. She also struggles to keep Lydia's voice consistent with that of a letter writer even though all of Lydia's chapters took the form of letters to her sweetheart off to war. (I also took issue with Bryant's characterization through Lydia of longing for the war's end in 1917 when the United States had barely entered the war and for the most part had avoided most of the direct effects of the war.)
Also, the supposed "friendship" between Julie and Lauren rubbed me the wrong way. Bryant made no effort to portray an actual friendship, albeit one strained by recent changes in circumstances. The other relationships failed the suspension of disbelief test as well. 

What a colossal disappointment.

Glow

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