Mrs. Lieutenant: A Women's Friendship Novel [Kindle Edition]

Phyllis Zimbler Miller (Author)

Book Description

This 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist is a story of unexpected women's friendship.

"Miller captures the freshness and naiveté of those women, all transplanted to an environment that forced them to deal with new challenges."--Dr. Cathy Goodwin, Top 500 Amazon Reviewer

"I loved MRS. LIEUTENANT. Reading it brought back for me, a military wife, memories of the Vietnam War era, when so many of our young men were in uniform due to the draft, and memories of what it was like being in the sub-culture of the military as a new Army wife." --Mary Raynor

"This book should be required reading for every contemporary military spouse, the families of our servicemen and women, and civilians who want to understand the lifestyle of our men and women in uniform. The military isn't just a job or career, it is a WAY OF LIFE that can't be fully understood by those who haven't lived it. Phyllis Zimbler Miller's MRS. LIEUTENANT makes it clear--this is a life she understands at the deepest level." --Bonnie Bartel Latino, co-author of "Your Gift to Me"

"Phyllis Zimbler Miller's MRS. LIEUTENANT is one of those stellar reads that keep you engaged from the first word to the last, and how long or how short the book is doesn't concern you at all. Keep a box of tissues handy, because you'll need it; I certainly did, and more than once." --George Polley, author of "Grandfather & the Raven"

When newly married Sharon Gold suddenly finds herself in the unfamiliar culture of the U.S. Army during the unpopular Vietnam War, she realizes she must quickly adapt to this alien world. If she does not learn to "fit in," the consequences could have a severe impact on her husband.

The women's friendship she unexpectedly experiences turns out to be her lifesaver.

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Editorial Reviews

Review

"I first became aware of this novel when it was an Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semi-finalist. I read it again more recently. As a former columnist for Stars and Stripes in Europe AND an Air Force wife of 30 years, I love Mrs.Lieutenant."

-- Bonnie Latino,  co-author of "Your Gift to Me"

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 publishing more fiction and nonfiction books via Kindle Direct Publishing.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• File Size: 618 KB
• Print Length: 497 pages
• Page Numbers Source ISBN: 1419686291
• Publisher: Miller Mosaic, LLC (May 20, 2008)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0019V2HFK
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #264,978 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Best of Everything for Vietnam-Era Miltary Wives May 27, 2008

By Dr Cathy Goodwin TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

Phyllis Miller sent me this book after seeing my name on an Internet forum. I was a little concerned because many first novels are really amateurish, almost embarrassing to read.

But I really liked Mrs. Lieutenant. Miller is a writer. She knows how to set up her story and make the characters seem real. Her pacing was good: I didn't want to stop reading. The story arc was strong.

As I read, I was reminded of Rona Jaffe's classic, The best of everything, made into a movie that captured the 50s era career woman.

What Jaffe did for the college graduate in publishing, Miller does for the Vietnam era junior officer's wife.

Those women reminded me of my college classmates who married right out of college (even though they weren't all college grads). Women were expected to marry. They had uneasy relationships with their husbands. They worried about what to wear and what to cook. And they lived in those awful apartments! I visited friends with husbands in grad school, living in student housing and eating budget meals...very similar.

Miller captures the freshness and naiveté of those women, all transplanted to an environment that forced them to deal with new challenges. They met people who were really different from themselves in religion, values, child rearing styles and of course accents. They're so nervous when summoned to tea with the commanding officer and they wear gloves...gloves!

We didn't get too much insight into the men's days at Armor School in Fort Knox. They didn't seem to have homework and they didn't talk about getting uniforms ready and other details of their world.

As a survivor of that era, not married myself, I watched my friends grow into the Women's Movement just five years later.... They went back to school, finished graduate degrees and told their husbands, "It's my turn now." Some got divorced. Some just went through a rocky patch.

I just watched the PBS series, Carrier. Commentaries noted that officers' wives have their own careers now. They're doctors, lawyers, psychologists and teachers. Watching families join sailors at the end of the cruise, you could see how much the military has changed. For one thing, women are flying planes off carrier decks and running traffic control rooms.

So what I take away from Mrs. Lieutenant is a trip down memory lane. I can remember not just the hairstyles but also the tight social fabric, the awkward social situations when you had to do the right thing, the young women rushing into marriages instead of taking time to have their own lives.

Miller subtitles the book "A Sharon Gold Novel," suggesting she will write more. I hope she does. Read more ›

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Women Behind the Men January 16, 2008

By Newsyrob

"Mrs. Lieutenant" presents the vivid, personal stories of four young wives as they learn to cope with military life, against the backdrop of America at war--both in Vietnam and at home--in 1970. The four "Mrs. Lieutenants" (they are defined by their husbands' roles) embark on their individual journeys into womanhood, providing us with an intimate, detailed perspective on one of our Nation's most dynamic, unsettling and influential eras.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Author tackles Race, Religion, and Rank in story about Rookie Officers' Wives October 20, 2009

By Kathleen M. Rodgers

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Phyllis Zimbler Miller is an author with guts. She tackles the tough topics of race, religion and rank in her novel about four young rookie officers' wives in 1970 while the Vietnam War rages on. And don't forget about the "Rules." While men are dying in an unpopular war overseas, these four young women with very different backgrounds are thrown together into a world where white gloves and the right outfit are expected attire for the proper officer's wife. If only white gloves could protect Sharon, Kim, Wendy and Donna from the harsh realities of military life and the cruel dark places that sometimes exist in the human heart.

Although this story takes place almost 40 years ago, it is so relevant today. Rank still has its privileges, soldiers still die in battle, and some people still cling to outdated rules and old prejudices. Despite some of the unsavory aspects of military life, this novel captures how quickly friendships are made and how most military spouses learn the ropes quickly and are stronger women for it. "Mrs. Lieutenant" is well written and these four main characters will grab your heart and you will come to think of them as friends. You will care about them long after you've finished the last page and closed the book.

Kathleen M. Rodgers ~ author of the bestselling novel, THE FINAL SALUTE, #1 on Amazon's Top Rated War Fiction

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars great read August 22, 2012

By perry

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

GREAT READ! I read the whole book in less than 24 hours. As an army wife, I found the characters to be realistic and their fears and anxieties to to be accurate. One of the best "Army Wife" books out there!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A delightful read May 27, 2008

By Busy Mom VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is a very delightful reading about four women whose husbands are in officer training class down in Kentucky. The women themselves are four different individuals from different parts of the country. There's Sharon, the main character, from Chicago and Jewish and against the Vietnam war, but she supports her husband's decision to be enlisted as an officer. There is Kim, an orphan from the south, married to a votalile man and she has endured more life tragedies than a person should bear in one lifetime. There is Donna, a Puerto Rican who is an army brat and has seen the world through her father's deployment to different bases. She is happily married to her husband, even if he is a white man. Then there's Wendy, a Southern Black woman, faced the prejudices of being a black woman in the midst of the deep South.

Together these women became friends and bonded together during the six-week officer training course. Together, these women learned what it means to be an officer's wife in the midst of a traumatic turmoil that is racking the United States. Together, they faced personal trials and came through it knowing that friendships will endure.

This is a delightful reading from an author who is making her fictional novel debut. It is a quick read and an intense one. The characters' voices will linger long after the last page has been turned.

5/27/08

More About the Author

Phyllis Zimbler Miller was raised in Elgin, Illinois, and majored in journalism at Michigan State University, where she met her future husband, Army ROTC cadet Mitchell R. Miller, on the State News editorial staff.

In May of 1970 Mitch went on active duty at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and Phyllis tagged along with him. Her women's friendship novel MRS. LIEUTENANT is inspired by the nine weeks they spent at Ft. Knox.

From September 1970 to May 1972 Phyllis and Mitch were stationed in Munich, Germany, where Mitch served with the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion.

Phyllis eventually got a security clearance and worked as a civilian with the 66th MI Group. Her romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY is partially based on knowledge she learned on this job (reports she typed went to the Munich office of the CIA).

After Mitch's military service, while living in Philadelphia, Phyllis was an editor and reporter for the Jewish Exponent before earning an M.B.A. at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her Wharton experience is the starting point for her Los Angeles-based cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE.

Phyllis and Mitch moved to Los Angeles in 1980, and Phyllis held positions at TigerAir and Max Factor. She then worked as a marketing consultant while their two daughters were young, and she was the founding president of the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

In 1992 Perigee, an imprint of Putnam, published the Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION that Phyllis wrote with Rabbi Karen L. Fox.

Years later, after helping her daughters get into college, she worked with other students applying to college and graduate school. This work forms the basis of her three-book HOW TO SUCCEED series for teens and young adults.

In 2008 Phyllis co-founded an online marketing company at the same time she self-published her novel MRS. LIEUTENANT, which was selected as a 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist. Phyllis dove into the world of blogging, social media, and online book marketing. These activities form the basis of her TOP TIPS online marketing books.

Phyllis and Mitch have maintained an interest in military intelligence, and Mitch is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and the U.S. Naval Institute. Together they wrote the thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.

They now live in Beverly Hills, where Phyllis is busy working with online marketing clients as well as writing more books and blogging about author topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com

Phyllis' fiction books include:

Women's friendship novel MRS. LIEUTENANT -- 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist.

YA short story PINKY SWEAR -- a prequel to MRS. LIEUTENANT.

Romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY -- for fans of Dorothy Gilman and Helen MacInnes.

Cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE: A REBECCA STONE MYSTERY -- takes place in Los Angeles and concerns The Wharton School.

Cozy mystery short stories TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE: REBECCA STONE MYSTERY SHORT STORIES -- two mystery stories in Los Angeles.

Navy thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS (written with Mitchell R. Miller) -- for military thriller fans who enjoy a fictional female character in a traditionally male role.


Phyllis' nonfiction books include:

TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH AND MARKET YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF AMAZON: 3 Top Tips Books in 1

TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO PUBLISH YOUR BOOK IN THE AGE OF KINDLE: Action Steps You Can Do Immediately Whether You Are Unpublished or Already Published

TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET ON THE INTERNET WITH PICTURES: Action Steps You Can Do Immediately Whether You Are an Expert or a Novice

TOP TIPS FOR HOW TO MARKET YOUR BOOK ON AMAZON AND FACEBOOK: Action Steps You Can Do Immediately Whether You Are Traditionally Published or Self-Published

The HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL, COLLEGE AND BEYOND COLLEGE 3-book series for teens and young adults:

HOW TO SUCCEED IN HIGH SCHOOL AND PREP FOR COLLEGE

HOW TO SUCCEED IN COLLEGE AND PREP FOR HIGH SCHOOL

HOW TO SUCCEED BEYOND COLLEGE

P.S. While several of Phyllis' books are available only in Kindle format, you do not need a Kindle in order to read these. Amazon provides FREE Kindle apps for many electronic devices and these apps can be downloaded at http://budurl.com/freeKindleapp