Grace, Valerie and Marie serve as switchboard operators during World War I in France. Although this is a fictionalized account, Jennifer Chiaverini is a thorough researcher and told the little known story of the important role real women switchboard operators played in the war.

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.

Grace, Marie, and Valerie were excited at the opportunity to sign up to be "hello girls" in France during World War II. Each of them at a cross roads in their lives, battling expectations from their families and society, motivate them to join the War effort as "switchboard soldiers" and make a difference.

I had not heard of this true effort by General Pershing to shore up communication efforts during WWII, and it was interesting to read side research about it. This story, outside of introducing me to this initiative, fell flat. The girls were all extremely "nice," and overly (and I think unrealistically) patient with the patriarchal attitudes from the men surrounding them. This was war - and it was ugly and gritty and I think any person - no matter what gender - would not be as patient or accepting of this treatment. This was a "cozy" historical fiction, if that is a thing - I feel this story put a gentle, feminine cover over the war and the help that woman gave.

It took me a long time to get through this story. Chiaverini did massive amounts of research, and I respect that. I also felt like I was getting the entire batch of research in this one book. As such, the book read more like a textbook, similar to the amount of research she did for The Women's March. Perhaps she needs to write a nonfiction book.

The story revolved around three young women who became switchboard operators in World War I, going to France to do the job so as to free up soldiers to go into battle. Each chapter told the story of one of these three, then the next chapter told another of the stories. The problem was, that many of the stories were so very similar, their stories became repetitious, causing the story to move slowly. These three young woman had families who were very reluctant to let their daughters go on such a risky adventure. Marie was French. Grace's background was East Coast, college educated, already a career woman working for AT&T. Valerie's family came from Belgium. All three girls were bilingual, and could answer and forward calls in either language.

I enjoyed the story, but felt it needed to be condensed a good deal, and there needed to be more dialogue.

There are many reasons why this book stood out to me. Having briefly served in the Signal Corp I naturally gravitated towards the synopsis. The vintage photo on the cover also pulled me in. Having read Chiaverini's previous novel on the Women's March, I was curious to see how she would approach this topic.
This was an event driven book. If you don't like history then this probably isn't the book for you. Chiaverini evidently put a lot of time into researching this one. It was filled with the progression of the war as the US doughboys fought alongside the French to push German troops back into Germany. While none of the characters are true representations of a specific person, the author cleverly used their stories to give readers a more comprehensive overview of the need for the efficiency that the women provided.
Grace with her devotion to duty was determined that she and her fellow operators could and would endure to the very end. She exhibited a softer side through her comradery with the girls and her "friendship" with a certain Cpt. Mack. Marie found a way to continue with her music while also serving her adopted country. She found purpose in the most unimaginable place. Valerie with her honesty, devotion to family, and commitment to service always underestimated herself and her worth. Like so many others, as a first generation immigrant, she wanted to contribute to the salvation of her family's homeland.
This book provides a glimpse into the unacknowledged contributions of women telephone operators in World War I. A notable read.

I received a copy of this title via NetGalley.

I was fortunate to read this book as an ARC from Netgalley. It was excellent. Set during World War One, “the war to end all wars”, this historical fiction novel moves between three main characters- Marie from Cincinnati by way of France, Grace from NJ, and Valerie from CA. The women are all working as telephone operators when duty calls and they all sign up to become switchboard soldiers in France during WW1. I must confess, I know quite a bit about WW2, but my knowledge of WW1 is sorely lacking. This book was not only attention keeping and absorbing, but I feel like I have gained much new knowledge of the time period. It actually made me want to read more historical fiction set during WW1. Our real life switchboard soldiers deserve to have much more known about them. They were incredibly brave and tough. I really liked this book, and if you like historical fiction then I think you will too. Be sure to read the afterword as well. It won’t surprise you, but it will make you shake your head in disgust once again.

I don't think I've ever read a Jennifer Chiaverini book that I haven't enjoyed. Switchboard Soldiers tells the story of "Hello girls" during World War I. At a time when women's roles were still very much relegated to the home, the exception was telephone operators which was a female dominated field. When War in France ramps up and communications are vital to the allies winning, the Army realizes it has a huge problem on it's hands-a lack of qualified operators perform this essential service. The Army decides to start recruiting female telephone operators who can speak French and Grace, Marie, and Valerie as well as many others answer the call and marks the first time that women are allowed to serve their country in such an important capacity outside of nursing. Chiaverini does a wonderful job of giving each girl their own absorbing storyline and Switchboard Soldiers contains just the right blend of relationships with their fellow recruits, love story, and perspective of having a front seat to such a devastating war. My only complaint (and it is minor) is the author's overuse of referring to the war as "Over There". Other than that one itsy bitsy thing this was a very satisfying portrait of these glass ceiling busting ladies.

4.5 stars rounded up.
I really enjoyed this novel and have read the author's work before.
This book was well-researched. It allowed the reader to experience WWI through these people and the author's skillful development of atmosphere and setting. I had a sense of what these women's lives were like in Europe as telephone operators for the US Army.
All of this being said, the individual women blended together for me with only a couple of exceptions. Character development could have been stronger, as the story seemed to represent a collective experience rather than a set of stories attributed to unique individuals. This really did not matter to me because I was more interested in the the Signal Corp and the members' daily routines and responsibilities than their personal romances, family dramas, etc.
This book provides a lot of detail. In places, I skimmed some of it. Overall, this is an interesting work of historical fiction focused on female military personnel about whom I previously knew nothing. The facts included in the author's note provided more closure than the conclusion of the novel itself.
Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is a fascinating story about women that I never heard about, the US Signal Corps during WWI. Although they were not considered military, these 7600 brave, skilled and bi-lingual telephone operators served on the front lines, working for General Pershing. Thank you to the author for bring their stories to light.

Thank you to Netgalley for the advanced reader's copy of Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini.

This book was longer than some of the past ones I have read by Chiaverini. It also featured quite a bit of historical detail about WWI, a time period I haven't read much about. However I found while reading this one that because of all the historical details and developments included, sometimes the characters felt a little lacking in personalities while the war went on. There were initial backstories for all the female main characters so we did get to know them. And little facts like learning how to sew face masks during the flu epidemic was interesting but I wanted more from these women. Maybe Chiaverini was demonstrating that during war time people could only live and think about the moment.

I received an advance digital copy of this book from NetGalley for a fair and honest review. Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity.

General John Pershing, leader of the American Army, arrived in France in 1917 to discover that the communications equipment to successfully carry out WWI was extremely outdated. After setting up a more modern infrastructure for communications, his next task was to replace the current workforce employing male French soldiers with a more efficient and accurate one to disseminate war correspondence. Switchboard tasks that took male soldiers one minute to accomplish took their replacements ten seconds!

Jennifer Chiaverini’s new historical fiction novel, Switchboard Soldiers, features Pershing’s plan to fill this role with the creation of the World War I Army Signal Corps. Barnard graduate Grace Banker, French vocalist Marie Miossec, Belgian-born Valerie De Smelt, and many other women are experienced switchboard telephone operators in the United States who also speak French fluently with excellent on the spot translation skills. They are trustworthy women who exhibit unquestioning loyalty to the US as they will be privy to the most current war information. They were not allowed to enlist in the US Army yet they have been accepted into the US Army under the Articles of War as the first class of recruits.They are on their way to France at a time in the United States when women in many states were not allowed to vote.

Chiaverini has presented a little known series of historical events with well researched facts in a historical fiction context that readers will find engaging as these women paved the way for generations of women to come. The author’s note at the end will easily allow the reader to discern the historical facts from the historical fiction. With so much information to present, it is heavily laden with facts that may seem to slow the narrative at times, thus 4 stars. However a lot is aways happening where lives are in danger from wartime activities and the Spanish Flu. This offering is not short on details!

I enjoyed this book, and I look forward to recommending it to our patrons. Even though I've studied the First World War, I don't remembering hearing about the Switchboard Soldiers. As usual, the author has done her research. I am always glad to find a First World War novel, as there is an over-abundance of Second World War novels out there.

Switchboard Soldiers is a prime example of why I love to read Historical Fiction! It's just so interesting to learn something new about history. I had no idea that there were hundreds of women serving "Over There" during WWI on the front lines running the telephone switchboards.

The book centers around three young women who work on the AT&T switchboards in the US; Grace works in New York City, Marie, a Frenchwoman, works in Ohio and Valerie, in Los Angeles. they all apply and are excepted into the program to have women working in France.

We really get to know these women and those around them. They struggle with misogyny although I can't imagine it wasn't worse than this fictional account. But, they were very good at their jobs and connected calls much faster than the men whom they replaced. That earned them at least some respect.

We follow each as they move around and are transferred closer and closer to the front. The grit and resilience of these Soldiers is inspiring. Chiaverini has done it again!

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy in exchange for this honest review.

(Thanks, Netgalley, for the advance copy.)

2.5 stars rounded up.

When three women find themselves stationed in France to operate the switchboards during WWI, they find their lives and stories interwoven and irrevocably altered.

This is a very, very, very drawn out historical fiction novel. Heavy on the history and extremely wordy, this book could have easily been nearly 200 pages shorter. Also, not much really happened to many of the characters. Other than the repetitive slog of switchboard shifts, changing stations, air raids, etc., the chapters started to feel extremely cyclical well before the halfway point. While Marie was the obvious favorite, Valerie and Grace were almost interchangeable to me at times. I rounded this up to 3 stars because I think Chiaverini is a very talented writer, but so much could have been edited out of this book.

Very well researched! Readers who enjoy and want to learn more about WWI will certainly want to read this book. Following these women as they train and become operators in the war is interesting. I did find the story wordy and drawn out at times. With so much historical information included, the book could easily have become a history book. I do prefer more dialogue and less details.

General John Pershing requested women to come to France and work the switchboards because men didn’t make good telephone operators. Two hundred twenty-three bilingual (English and French) women answered the call and helped win World War I. This is the story of three them, one an actual historical figure.
There’s lots to enjoy: Marie forming a choir with French orphans, Valerie and Grace finding their brothers over there.
The story does bog down with long historical passages, like the background of John Pershing or the Spanish flu pandemic. And the characters spend a lot of time on “soapbox” issues, like their indignation on not having military rank or the treatment of black soldiers. The book is longer than it needs to be.

Jennifer Chiaverini has the uncanny ability to take an event from long ago and make readers feel like they are there. Although the time period is dated, she manages to make everything feel very relevant.

Switchboard Soldiers
by Jennifer Chiaverini
Pub Date July 19, 2022
William Morrow and Company
Thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley for the ARC of this book. I absolutely loved it.
The narrative follows three women (one real, two fictional) as they go through the process of recruitment shortly after the U.S. enters the war through the Versailles Peace Talks: Grace Banker of New Jersey (who later received the Distinguished Service Medal), Marie Miossec (a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer), and Belgian born Valerie DeSmedt (whose widowed mother ran a boarding house in Los Angeles).

Highly recommended.
4 stars

I absolutely loved this book — one of the best pieces of fictionalized history I’ve read in a long time. The subject is the recruitment of female Telephone Operators to manage the switchboards in France during WWI as part of the Signal Corps.

Few people alive today can remember a time when every single call made using a telephone had to go through an actual person to be connected. And physical lines had to be in place for any call to be connected. Now picture the war torn fields of France during WWI — physical lines had to be laid and relaid to remote and exposed pieces of war terrain, and operators had to be in place in multiple locations to connect calls to send out new orders, to get reports, to contact other units and allies. It is estimated that during the two years the 223 bilingual women were in place, they connected over 26 million calls.

In this book, the history IS the story, not the backdrop for a romance or a mystery, and the story is rich and full of historical, technical, and personal detail. Characters — both real and fictional — are true to the time as they reflect on their roles, worries, and hopes. We get all the details of their lives: training, required uniforms, wildly varying accommodations, gas mask training, the conditions of the locals, the camaraderie they develop, and the respect and appreciation they slowly earn from the initially skeptical men. Also, the strong patriotism each of them feels — true to the time, patriotism is not the dirty word it appears to have become today. This book is well researched (an excellent and long bibliography available at the back) and does not sink into melodrama — there are no broken hearts, gratuitous sobbing, or overwhelming romances. These women were competent, had an important purpose, and thrived in an environment of hard work, pressure, and real need. It wasn’t all rosy — after the war they were treated as volunteers and were discharged without proper veterans benefits. This was not rectified until 1977 when only 50 of the women were still alive.

The narrative follows three women (one real, two fictional) as they go through the process from recruitment shortly after the U.S. enters the war through the Versailles Peace Talks: Grace Banker of New Jersey (who later received the Distinguished Service Medal), Marie Miossec (a Frenchwoman and aspiring opera singer), and Belgian born Valerie DeSmedt (whose widowed mother ran a boarding house in Los Angeles).

Highly recommended.

I wish I'd noticed this was fiction before requesting it. Unfortunately, this is a DNF for me at 28%. I'm not jibing with the writing (as in, it's actively making me annoyed) and I'm so SO bored. Also frustrated with the blind patriotism and admiration for the military industrial complex, and really done reading "Over There" and literally no other words for going overseas to the war. I appreciate access to the advance copy from Netgalley and the publisher, and I'm sorry this one wasn't for me.