LETTER FROM BELLEAU WOOD

This seventh book in Cheatham’s Covington Chronicles focuses primarily on four characters: a young woman named Trudy; her first love, Jeremy; her brother, Will; and his friend Lance.In a series of interconnected vignettes, the author explores this quartet’s coming of age during a tumultuous time. Trudy and Jeremy are childhood sweethearts “as close as ribbon cane syrup and pancakes,” but distance strains their romance when they both leave their small Mississippi town to attend college. Will’s roommate, Lance, captures Trudy’s heart, and with the Great War looming, a quick wedding ceremony is arranged. Lance and Will head to the front in France, and Jeremy follows as a war correspondent (as he can’t enlist, due to a heart murmur). The boys contend with the horrors of the conflict, which they relate in letters home, in as much detail as the censors allow. Meanwhile, Trudy contends with her own challenges at home, including an unexpected pregnancy and the ravages of an influenza pandemic. Cheatham’s novel moves along briskly as she chronicles the tough choices that her protagonists face, as well as their moments of joy. Real historical events such as the Battle of Belleau Wood are incorporated into the story; Gen. John J. Pershing even makes an appearance, taking Jeremy under his wing and sharing pithy wisdom on life and love: “If you love her, tell her how you feel,” he advises the ambitious reporter. Although the dilemmas faced by Trudy and company are specific to their time in history, the emotions involved are universal, from Trudy’s fear and shame when she discovers her pregnancy to Jeremy’s worry that he’s blown his chance with the woman he loves. Less realistic is the anachronistic behavior of some characters, such as Trudy’s parents’ unfazed reaction to the news of her secret marriage and pregnancy, which hardly seems typical for 1918.

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