Mrs. Lieutenant: A Sharon Gold Novel [Kindle Edition]

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 20, 2008

They had their whole lives to look forward to if only their husbands could survive Vietnam. In the spring of 1970 - right after the Kent State National Guard shootings and President Nixon's two-month incursion into Cambodia - four newly married young women come together at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, when their husbands go on active duty as officers in the U.S. Army. Different as these four women are, they have one thing in common: Their overwhelming fear that, right after these nine weeks of training, their husbands could be shipped out to Vietnam - and they could become war widows. Sharon is a Northern Jewish anti-war protester who fell in love with an ROTC cadet; Kim is a Southern Baptist whose husband is intensely jealous; Donna is a Puerto Rican who grew up in an enlisted man's family; and Wendy is a Southern black whose parents have sheltered her from the brutal reality of racism in America. Read MRS. LIEUTENANT to discover what happens as these women overcome their prejudices, reveal their darkest secrets, and

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Mrs. Lieutenant" follows the lives of four Vietnam-era army wives as they arrive at Fort Knox to watch their husbands head off to war. While the prose is clean and (for the most part) error-free, it's also a little pedestrian--the author is caught up in small details, such as the height or a character or the exact date of the action. The booklet excerpts and descriptions of what's happening in the war (sending troops to Cambodia, Kent State shootings) don't add anything to the novel and instead give it more gravitas than it deserves. -- Amazon Top Reviewer

Follow four women as they leave their families and surroundings to follow their husbands into the United States Army. Share their feelings, their terror and their dreams as they try to be supportive and loving as they fear for the worst. This is a very interesting read that takes you into the minds of each woman and all women who are faced with this journey. The plot is quite compelling and well written. -- Amazon Top Reviewer

Four young women follow their husbands to officers' training school with little certainty about their social standing and even less about their husband's futures in this story set three years after the summer of love. Kim, Wendy, Donna, and Sharon have everything in common except their backgrounds. As a Jew, a black, a Puerto Rican, and a white southern woman, they make a convenient test case for friendship by default. Sharon, who grew up part of "an imagined, if not actual majority" is the most confident of the group, but struggles with being connected by marriage to "the war machine." Donna has already lost one husband to Vietnam and fears for her second. Wendy considers leaving her husband rather than lose him in combat, and Kim's orphaned youth has colored her judgment about her "white knight" of a jealous bigoted husband. Over the course of three months, the women share secrets and etiquette lessons, which are excerpted from the army-issued "Mrs. Lieutenant" booklet at the head of each chapter. The summer ends with one climactic event , underplayed by a mundane parting of ways by four friends. This slow-moving drama about picnics, diaphragms, and head-patting husbands may be an accurate depiction of the social milieu of Fort Knox in 1970 - but that isn't enough to sustain readers' attention. -- manuscript review by Publishers Weekly, an independent organization

From the Author

The novel MRS. LIEUTENANT took 38 years to be published.

The novel's saga started when I was a new Mrs. Lieutenant in May 1970 during the Vietnam War and right after the Kent State shootings.  The experience introduced me to the world of army wives that I would never have otherwise known.

About 20 years later and after I had started the Los Angeles Chapter of the national organization Sisters in Crime, I told the story of my military spouse experience to two female movie producers.  They were intrigued and optioned the story for a movie.

They eventually told me that Hollywood people did not "get" the movie concept and that I would have to first write a book.  By the time I wrote the first draft of the novel the producers had moved on.

For another 20 years or so I wrote and rewrote the novel.  (It had to be a novel rather than a nonfiction book to protect the people whose stories I wanted to tell.)  I created fictional characters and some fictional events for a more compelling story.

Many agents and publishers over the years turned the novel down.  But I felt strongly that there was a place for a novel about this slice of women's social history at the beginning of the women's movement in the United States.

When POD (print on demand) self-publishing became an option, I decided to self-publish MRS. LIEUTENANT.  At the same time I entered it in the 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award competition. When the book was named a semifinalist of this competition, I felt vindicated for my 38-year belief in sharing this story.

At the same time I stumbled into blogging and social media for book marketing.  From that point on I dove into learning as much as possible about this brave new online world, and I co-founded an online marketing company with my younger daughter Yael K. Miller.

Now ebooks have opened up the self-publishing world even more - and I'm engaged in resurrecting some of my favorite unpublished stories to give them a life on the Internet.

You can see my current available books and ebooks at budurl.com/PZMbooks    

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 503 KB
• Print Length: 497 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1419686291
• Publisher: http://budurl.com/PZMbooks (May 20, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0019V2HFK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #295,136 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
  • #17 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Friendship

More About the Author

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (@ZimblerMiller on Twitter) has an M.B.A. from The Wharton School and is the co-founder of the marketing consulting company MillerMosaicLLC.com, which works with companies and individuals to use social media to effectively attract more clients and customers. The company also builds WordPress websites for clients.

Phyllis writes posts for the company blog at www.MillerMosaicSocialMediaMarketing.com as well as book marketing and social media guest posts throughout the Internet.

She is also interested in using fiction to teach history -- and there is information on this initiative in connection with her 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist novel MRS. LIEUTENANT at www.MrsLieutenant.com

Phyllis and her husband Mitch wrote the novel LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS -- see www.MollieSanders.com -- based in part on their 2005 Nicholls Fellowship competition quarterfinalist screenplay "Lt. Commander Mollie Sanders."

Her company's Facebook pages are www.facebook.com/powermarketing, www.facebook.com/bookmarketing and www.facebook.com/millermosaicsocialmedia