Band of Sisters is written by Lauren Willig. This is the first book that I have read by this author - and I really enjoyed it. This book is set in World War I era and features a group of young women from Smith College risk their lives in France. When they arrive they are hopeful, but then they find their headquarters damaged. They are facing lots of danger.
The book is well written, the characters are well developed. I loved the careful research that the author put in. I hope to read more from this author. Thank you to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me to read a copy of this book all thoughts are my own.

Fascinating historical fiction and how the women helped WWI causes. I think it is a matter of remembering the stories which slowed me down. However, I liked the historical perspective and details of how the war changed people’s lives

What a great historical fiction. As I’ve said before historical fiction is one of my favorite genres and this one did not disappoint.
I recommend this book to anyone. It’s such a great story about the brave women from the Smith College Relief Unit and their strength to get help through war.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC digital copy. I have not been compensated for my opinion and this is an honest review.

Unfortunately, I was unable to finish reading this ARC digital copy before needing to switch to other books that were being archived. The book remains on my Goodreads "want to read" list, and I will update my review to reflect an updated opinion when I finish it at a later date..

Absolutely loved this book. It was a little slow to start, but once I got into the story I couldn't put it down.

This is yet another book that had the potential to be great and unfortunately fell short of expectations for me. As I started to write down notes for my review of this book, the very first thing I wrote down was: “Did not cry/was not tempted to cry.” It hadn’t overtly occurred to me before, but when I grab a WWI or II historical fiction book, I’m pretty much expecting to bawl my eyes out. It was a big sign for me that something was wrong that I never remotely felt that urge with this one.

This book had a lot going for it - the true story of the Smith College Relief Unit is absolutely fascinating and the author clearly did SO much research, as evidenced by the author’s note at the end. The final 100 pages of this book were quite exciting and ended the book nicely.

However, the first 428 pages were sloooow. There were SO many characters in this book and little to no character development for anyone, from the main characters to the women in the Smith Unit to the villagers to the men. It was really hard to keep everyone straight when you knew so little about each of them (especially the Smith Unit women), and it made the emotional notes not land as well as they could have. I feel like that’s really why this book didn’t work for me overall and it left me frustrated because this book could and should have been amazing with such interesting source material. They also introduced a villain character but then she disappeared midway through the book and that plotline just completely disappeared. It overall felt like I was being told about these women and the Smith Unit when I wanted to be experiencing it with them. Finally, I would have liked a bit more information about the war itself.

I flew through this book once I finally got a chance to start reading it! What a great story of friendship and loyalty and sacrifice! I loved that it was based on a true story and incorporated portions of real letters! I would definitely recommend this book to my friends who are fans of historical fiction.

Well-Done Historical Fiction Deeply Rooted in Fact

I love historical fiction that draws from fact, and clearly, from the author's note, this one does. In fact, as I listened to it (and followed along with the eBook), I was inspired to look up information about the actual Smith unit. I had no idea that a small group of young women, all graduates of Smith College, went to France during World War I to help villagers near Grecourt. The author has fictionalized history, giving the young women fictional names and otherwise mixing fact and fiction, but many key events actually happened to these brave young women. The author did her research, reading the actual letters of all these young women. The author gave an immediacy to the horrors of war as lived on the homefront, as these young women tried to help the surrounding villages without many resources. The young women faced personal privation themselves yet still tried to do all they could for the beleaguered French countrymen. The author writes of the horrific scars and the crude medical techniques of the time. Toward the end of the book, the frontline encroaches upon them, forcing them to flee as battles come their way. The book has a quite large cast of characters to keep track of, but the author managed to keep them distinct, each with her own story, goals, and motivations. There's some infighting, of course, and hiccups along the way, but these young women truly do become what the title states, a band of sisters. I love historical fiction that shows women's perspectives in times of war or other world difficulties. I thought this was very well done. Highly recommended.

Band of Sisters stands out in the crowd of 20th Century-based, historical war fiction. Excellently researched and solidly told, Sisters is chock-full of believable characters, each with their own personality, and from varying backgrounds.

Band of Sisters is a lovely tale based on the true story of a group of women from Smith College who journeyed to France to help out countryside villagers devastated by the ravages of World War I on the local French residents. Possessing little practical skills, save their determination, these dogged ladies find themselves accomplishing so much more than they dreamed possible. They treat the sick and injured and grow food for the villagers. They take off across the torn landscape in order to get supplies or deliver people where they need to go. They even scrape together their meager supplies to throw modest parties for the locals as well as the military men in the area.

If it won’t ruin it for you, with this book I would recommend reading the Historical Note<s> at the end of the novel first. I don’t think this story made quite the impression on me it should have until I read these end notes and discovered just how much research Lauren Willig put into the novel, and how entrenched in true history the story actually is. The Historical Notes moved this novel from a 4-star to a solid 5-star for me. Willig details out what parts of the tale are true, where she had to bend the story a bit to fit a novel’s pacing, as well as the names of the real “Smithies” in the Smith College Relief Unit who went to France, along with her inspiration and sources for the story.

I especially loved how the book was peppered with “quotes” from the various “sisters” of the Smith group. While spoken from the point of view of Willig’s fictional characters, the lives and stories of the Sisters women were based on the vast piles of letters and journals by Unit members housed in the Sophia Smith Collection at Smith College. The book itself is based on Willig’s research into thousands of pages of source material, allowing her to lovingly recreate the group’s time in France and the lives of these incredible women.

As an aside, along with the efforts of the Smith College ladies, the reader also gets a brief glimpse of additional volunteer women from Andover, Boston College, and Reed College, who also travel to France to assist with relief efforts.

Hear from Willig herself on Band of Sisters on SoundCloud. And be sure not to miss the Book Club Kit for a Q&A with the author, photos of the real-life Smith College Unit, suggestions for further reading, and more!

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Drop me a Comment below and let me know what you thought of this review… And if you decide to read Band of Sisters (and I hope you do), let me know your thoughts on the book too!

A big thank you to Lauren Willig, William Morrow’s Custom House Books, and NetGalley for providing a complimentary Advanced Reader Copy in exchange for this honest review.

Band of Sisters released on March 2, 2021 and is available now in hardcover and large-print paperback from William Morrow & Company publishers. Get your copy today at bookshop.org – the online bookstore that donates 75% of each book’s profit margin back to independent bookstores. Over $13.6 million contributed since 2020!


From the publisher: Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than twenty novels, including The Summer Country, the RITA Award–winning Pink Carnation series, and three novels cowritten with Beatriz Williams and Karen White.

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Tags/Shelves:
General Fiction (Adult)
Historical Fiction
Women's Fiction
World War I
2021 Release
March 2021 Release

I love Lauren Willig's writing. This book was a bit different than her other books though. "The Band of Sisters" is based on real people and actual events. I found it fascinating!

I finished this book almost two weeks ago, but I feel like I'm still living in it. The main characters (and even the more tangential characters) were so real to me that I think of them daily and wonder what happened to them after the book's ending... this is all a testament to Lauren Willig's immersive writing style. It's very dialogue-driven, which isn't usually my cup of tea and took me a bit to get into with Band of Sisters, but I ended up loving it.

And actually, it wasn't just the style that took me awhile- it was the story as well. I recently hosted a virtual event with the author, during which she explained that it takes months for her to write the first few chapters as she gets to know her own characters, but then she reaches a turning point and writes the remaining majority of the book in a caffeine-and-chaos fueled few weeks... this is exactly what my reading experience was like!

This is the story of a group of Smith alums who show up in France to rebuild devastated villages after WW1. I think there are two types of historical fiction... there's the "good story that just happens to take place in a different era," or the "historical event that we don't know every single detail about, so here's a very well-researched fictionalized account." Band of Sisters falls into the latter camp. This is a true story, based on real people, real events, and drawn from the Smithies' own detailed letters of their adventures. In other words, this is not sappy romantic Nicholas Sparks (but it's also not Doris Kearns Goodwin)!

Willig mentioned on social media that one reader described Band of Sisters as "MASH meets Downton Abbey" and I thought that was an excellent quip. I learned so much from this book- not only about what happened, but how these women spoke, what concerned them, what awaited them back home, what motivated them.

If you like historical fiction with a heart *and* a brain, I think you'll like this one.

I felt like I was walking alongside these brave women during the war. This is a heart felt peak into the world of volunteers and both their hardship and triumphs. Very enjoyable.

Title: Band of Sisters
Author: Lauren Willig
Read by: Julia Whelan
Publisher: HarperAudio
Length: Approximately 15 hours and 59 minutes
Source: Review Copy from HarperAudio and Netgalley. Thank-you!

Band of Sisters is the story of nineteen Smith College graduates who go to the front lines in World War I France to help French civilians survive after being ravaged by the Germans. Emmie Van Alden convinces her best friend Kate Moran to go with her to France after a rousing speech from Smith alumna Betsy Rutherford. Emmie comes from a life of privilege with a domineering mother, while Kate lived a hardscrabble life and was a scholarship student at Smith. As the ladies arrive in France, they face many obstacles and the true brutality of war. Will they be able to make a difference and will they make it home alive?

I was fascinated by this story. I had never known about American women social workers in France during World War I and the important work that they completed to help French women and children survive. I loved their stories and how they worked to ensure that there would be food and education for the people. I also loved how they were resourceful and made do with what they had, including putting together their vehicles. They also faced hard and scary situations. Together the women are able to make their way through it, although like in many situations, there were people who didn’t get along with everyone else. I loved their bonds that they forged. I also loved a wonderfully sweet romance that occurs as well.

I listened to the audiobook version and it was hard to stop listening to it. It was excellent. I especially like the author’s note at the end where she discussed her research and the real story. She used snippets from the real letters written by the women and real events to create this fictional story.

Overall, Band of Sisters is a riveting historical fiction novel about a group of brave women who made a difference in World War I and deserve to be remembered.

First, I would like to think NetGalley and the publishers for allowing me the opportunity to read Band of Sisters in exchange for my honest review. I had not previously read any of Willig's solo works but I truly loved her works with Williams and White so I knew that I would most likely love this book.

I am a big fan of historical fiction and Band of Sisters taught me about a group of women and a part of history I previously had no knowledge of. Willig does an amazing job of storytelling and making you feel for these characters. I was so proud of them and I can't wait to devour everything Willig has published in the past! Dual timelines are my favorite trope in historical fiction right now but I enjoyed that this was simply a story about a wonderful group of women. I also enjoyed the letters at the beginning of each chapter!

This was a fantastic read! Learned so much about the Smith College women who went to France during World War I. Am a fan of Lauren Willig and she didn't disappoint. Am excited for her next book! Thanks so much for the great read!

Told in two perspectives – the haves and the have nots – we are introduced to the story through Kate, a scholarship graduate of Smith College, daughter of a beer-wagon driver and raised in the rough and tumble tenements of New York City. Contrasted with the voice of Emmie, daughter of a mother known for her ‘good works’ and tireless efforts on behalf of women, and Kate’s college roommate (as well as former best friend). The ladies were ‘recruited’ to travel to France, more specifically the Somme region, during the late summer of 1917. The groups’ purpose is to work with the civilian population and “do for them” everything that they need from medical and housing to clothing, education and everything else.

A few bits you should know before you start this book:

This is based on actual events with actual people who went to France, very close to the battlefields.

These were women (with very few exceptions) who were unused to deprivation of any kind: they were expected to graduate, marry well and maintain multiple households – usually with servants, summer ‘cottages’ at Newport, and always be ‘an example’.

The German army was never more than 30 – 50 kilometers away from where the women lived.

Deprivations (and attitudes) were legendary – until the women showed they could dig in and do, the questions about why they were there, what they were looking to accomplish, and whether or not they could stay the course were omnipresent.

Weather, terrain and traumas were always a factor – as well as learning on the fly, adjusting and learning to work with other personalities, attitudes and skill sets. Most of these women were not familiar with actual poverty, injury, farm animals, driving or maintaining vehicles or the endless negotiations, begging and sourcing of supplies.


Now that that is covered – GO GET THIS BOOK! I’ve read plenty of historic fiction and wartime stories, and many of them have been based on actual people, or gleaned from records of such. Willig uses actual excerpts from letters home from many of the ladies that participated, and we always have Emmie’s and Kate’s perspectives on what they are seeing, what they are feeling, and even how they see themselves and each other throughout the years there. From dramatically dangerous situations to actual hilarity and light – the author has managed to give a sense of what was happening, as well as the obstacles overcome – the challenges faced, and even the true lingering horrors of war – for each of the people we get to know. With a dash of romance, the usual infighting and cliques that form in groups and plenty of darkness – what emerges is a story that shows determination and will can overcome obstacles that at first look feel insurmountable and leave us with admiration and a reason to look deeper into the unsung names working to make lives better during war.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aT8 /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

Honestly you have to begin by respecting the sheer amount of research that went into this novel. On top of this the world building and character building are excellent. I truly enjoyed getting to know this band of women doing their best in difficult times.

Based on correspondence and other materials written by the Smith College Relief Unit, Willing has constructed a story that brings to life the work of these amazing women as they attempt to provide relief, reconstruction, and hope to the French villagers whose villages and lives have been destroyed by the German Army during WWI. Kate Moran, who attended Smith on a scholarship, feels like an outcast around the other Smith alumnae. Her friend Emmy Van Alden comes from a very prosperous and influential family and, unbeknownst to Kate, has paid for Kate to become a part of the unit. The relationship between these two young women fluctuates throughout the book as they deal with their feelings of inferiority.
Willig's strength is in the descriptions of the villages and the villagers and the effects the war has on these people. She vividly describes the bombings and retreat and the helplessness of the villagers while also providing some hope as the Smith Unit comes to their assistance.
Recommended for fans of historical fiction and strong female characters who are riddled with self-doubt and must come to terms with accepting their strengths and weaknesses.
Willing's research is impeccable and drives the action in this novel.

This is another excellent work of historical fiction by Lauren Willig. She brings to life the struggles and successes of the real-life Smith College Relief Unit, a group of young women who volunteered to go to France during World War I to bring aid to the French people affected by the war. Well-researched and dramatic, this is a winner for all readers of historical fiction.

Lauren Willig has once again written an extremely well done piece of historical fiction. Based on a real event, Band of Sisters follows a group of Smithies to France during WWI.
It started slow for me, but once into it, I couldn’t put it down.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the arc.