Julia Whelan is one of my favorite narrators and she made every character and scene come alive. Unfortunately, I found Lauren Willig's prose a slow in the first third. That's a big critique for me nowadays, and typically would have stopped at the 15% mark but I am familiar with the author and I was looking for that familiar sparkle. Once the book picks up, it reminded me of Call the Midwife (the show's plot and characters, not the book's writing style necessarily). I appreciated seeing World War I from the perspective of those who were left behind in the French villages as Germany's armies left them in ruins, with little food and resources.

I thought this was a very good book. Once I got started it was hard to put down. I loved listening to it on audiobook. I like the narrator. I think this was a very good strong historical fiction. I love the characters and plot of the story. I like how we get letters before the next chapter and how it is in duel perspective. Also I love how this was based on an actual true story of the Smith College women who came over to a France village during WWII to try and help rebuild.

This was such a girl power, inspirational, well written story about the girls from Smith College. The characters were so well developed and I was pulled in from the very beginning. I love that the author is giving voice to some of the forgotten heroes of the war. I definitely recommend this one to fans of historical fiction and stories about WWI. 4 stars

I struggled to read historical fiction during Covid, but this one easy kept my attention without bumming be out completely. I never knew there were women from Smith College so I'm pretty sure that new take on a WWII was the main reason this book is so great. I have definitely recommended this one to friends and anyone looking for a historical fiction.

Lauren Willig's books are always enjoyable, but I really feel like I learned quite a bit of history reading/listening to this one as well.

I quite enjoyed reading this book. I truly love a good historical fiction and I would read this one again. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and learn about their friendship alongside one of their granddaughters. I related to some of it in that way as well. It was also interesting to see the beginning of WWII from a different perspective than I ever had before. This story of three women living in Britain at the beginning of WWII was wonderfully told and pulled me in. I never even knew Britain had had internment camps in the past. I learned a few new things and enjoyed the story. Well worth a read/listen!

I really overdid the historical fiction books a few years ago and haven't really been into them ever since. But Band of Sisters was a really great one, so it was well worth breaking the streak! I hadn't heard of the Smith College Relief Unit and it was fascinating to learn of them. I love the characters Lauren Willig developed from real people and their letters. And now I'm off to find more about them! Before I go, I can't not mention Julia Whelan does a wonderful job with each of the characters!

Thank you Netgalley for this advanced audio book.

This book was wonderful and I didn't want it to end. It was the story of Kate and Emmie and their adventures doing relief work in France during WWI. There are many layers to this story with Kate being from a less wealthy family and Emmie and the rest of the Smith College Relief Unit. being from more wealthy and influential families.

Kate learns that she has many valuable gifts that can't be improved with money. She leads this group through very stressful times and vastly improves the lives of the French people that have already been uprooted by the German soldiers once.

Emmie learns a lot about her self and her gifts of helping people as well. She adopts a village as her own to take care of and is shocked when she is unable to visit for several weeks how much the people are needing her to be there to help them get food and shelter on a consistent basis. She feels as she isn't an important part of the group, but this helps her realize how many good things she was able to accomplish for the French people in their time of need.
This was a wonderfully crafted tale of perseverance and personal growth. Of course there was a little romance in the mix for another layer of plot.

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..

Lauren Willig is one of my favorite gothic authors. However, this was a struggle to get into. The story was slow moving, and I could not connect with the characters. The narrator was awesome! I still love Lauren Willig, but thus was my least favorite.

I love Lauren Willig and it breaks my heart to say this, but this book was just not for me. Too slow couldn't connect to any of the characters. Let me add by saying it could of just been the pace of the narration, I am definitely going to give this another try with the physical book and if my thoughts and opinions change I will revise my review.

Another solid historical fiction book! It was interesting to hear all the research the author went to in order to write the novel. The narration and characters drew me into the story. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to review the book.

I was so excited to receive an ARC of the audio copy of the Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig. also purchased the hard copy. I loved Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation book and the Glass Ocean she co-wrote with Beatriz Williams and Karen White. She is quickly becoming one of my go-to authors! I have also been drawn to books about WWII lately and I wanted to read this one to get a better understanding of the impact of the first war on the people of France. I was also intrigued by the idea of well bred women from Smith College risking their lives in France during the height of the war. I can imagine being swept up by the charisma and passion of Betsy Rutherford’s speech. I can see how she recruited the women to join the Smith College Relief Unit. I wonder if I would have been (naive?) and brave enough to stay when they discovered the living conditions and true extent of the need. I appreciated how this book had some funny moments (I would not have known how to pick chickens either) to counteract the heartbreak of reading about all the devastation and loss. As a reader it was even harder knowing that another war was coming that would destroy these revitalization efforts. I loved getting to know the characters in this story knowing that they were based in part on the real women from Smith College and the stories from the letters they sent home. I was invested in Kate and Emmie’s friendship and was happy to see Julia’s growth (even though I liked her snarky side). I enjoyed the romance because it was not a major theme in the book. It did not feel forced. Finally, many of the books that I have read lately have used dual timelines so it was nice for a change to read the events as they unfolded. I recommended this one to our book club and it was a solid 4 out of 5 stars for our group. Thank you #netgalley #bandofsisters

First, thank you to the author and publisher for providing me with the audiobook of this title via Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.
I have read other books by Lauren willig and was so excited to receive her newest title. The narrator did a good job reading and was pleasant to listen to. The storyline was very interesting and captivating. I like the characters and felt for them. I like when a book draws you in and makes you feel the things the characters are feeling. The exhaustion, frustration, excitement, compassion and friendship. This was a new part of war that I did not know of before, these bra ve Smith's college women who risked so much and left the comforts of home to provide such a great service to the French people. Great story and very well told. I appreciated the author's notes at the end and learning how much of the events and circumstances really occurred.

Thank you to Harper Audio for my advance listeners copy of Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig.

I have previously read several of Lauren Willig's books, and this one was just as good as all the others. She is definitely a go-to for historical fiction for me.

Band of Sisters is a story of bravery beyond belief and a group of women with strength that they never knew they possessed. The story built slowly, but the narration was so great that I was fully invested the whole time. Julia Whelan is one of my most favorite narrators and she can pull off any genre! She really made you feel the despair of the women from the Smith College Relief Unit. I was able to easily speed it up to 2x speed.

I don't know how I skipped adding a review here. I reviewed this ages ago on my social media and truly think about this story often. I truly loved it. The storyline was deeply immersive and I loved getting to know the characters.
This was my first audiobook EVER, and man, I know I would have loved this story without the audio version, but the voice of the woman adding anguish, excitement, tempo changes and emphasis between characters truly made the story jump off the figurative page.
I also loved that these were real people. Fake names, yes, but real women who worked hard to keep people safe during a very scary time. Not to mention they were AMERICANS in FRANCE! Think about it! These women - when women weren't doing anything like this in the first place - got on a boat and went INTO the dangerous area on the planet at the time, to help others. What an amazing example of love and generosity.
I'll definitely be reading more books by Lauren Willig. Her writing style is so lovely and I appreciated how she made each character unique.

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.

The narrator of the audiobook did a fantastic job. Even though the book had so many female characters, she was able to make each sound unique. I even liked her voice for the British captain, the love interest of one of the women.

Loved the book and great to read something about WWI. I am in awe of what these women were able to accomplish. As someone who grew up near Smith College was an interesting read. Listened to author presentation on the book and have shared the book recommendation with friends.

Netgalley ARC Audiobook.

Lauren Willig takes a deep dive into an obscure pocket of history in this wonderful novel. The Smith Unit consisted of a number of Smith Graduates who worked to rebuild villages destroyed by the Germans during WWI. Unbelievably, they arrived in France over a year before the war ended!

The story focuses on Kate and Emmy, class of '11 and former roommates. Kate was a scholarship student from Brooklyn and Emmy from the upper echelons of New York society. Since graduation the two have grown apart, Kate teaching in Boston and Emmy doing charity work in NYC. Their relationship is complicated as the two are very different people.

I liked that Willig focuses on the women of the unit, rather than romance or a mystery. They are certainly out of their element, ordering livestock, rebuilding homes and schools, and dealing with the desolation left behind by war. They are helping people forgotten about in the struggle. While the book is mostly from the perspective of Kate and Emmy, we learn about the other ladies of the group as well, such as Julia, Emmy's doctor cousin and spoiled wealthy Maude.

The book has a great balance of action and personal drama. Emmy and Kate find each other at odds but work to rebuild their friendship. Both characters are interesting in their flaws and motivations. I hope Willig continues in this vein of meticulously researched unique historic novels.

Band of Sisters by Lauren Willig tells the story of Smith College alumna who volunteer as WWI relief workers in 1917. The novel follows Kate Moran, a young woman from a working-class family and whose academic scholarship places her in classrooms with daughters of the elite. As Kate navigates war-torn France, she wrestles who she is among her peers: the proud, capable woman she knows she is verses the "charity girl" her classmates consider her.

The narration shifts between Kate, Emmie, and Julia. But focuses mostly on Kate and Emmie.

Kate's working-class background will made her uniquely capable of navigating the challenges of war-torn France. She understood the importance of emphasizing dignity as well as charity to villagers as they rebuild their lives and livelihoods. But Kate also learned that the women of Smith College had their own unique skills to solve problems in ways she wouldn't have considered..

Emmie's banter with the captain was especially enjoyable - a little comic relief in the midst of the mud, shelling, and rationing.

This book was very well researched which gave it a great sense of place. But at times I felt overwhelmed by the details. Even so, I appreciated learning about the variety of ways that women supported the war effort. Through a variety of letters we learn about the relatives of our cast of characters and the ways they are supporting both the war and suffrage efforts.

Overall I really enjoyed this book and would definitely recommend it to historical fiction lovers. The audiobook was narrated by Julia Whalen and was especially enjoyable.