Review
"Donna Moreau deserves a medal for rescuing a lost chapter of the history of the Vietnam War."
-- Patricia O'Toole, author of When Trumpets Call
"A tragically timely and overdue book. Moreau is more than a chronicler. Her fine writing and sense of tension leaves us with the indelible after-image of the wives of men fighting an unpopular war overseas herding their children into their rooms and holding their collective breaths as an official car moves slowly down the street past bicycles on the front lawn looking for the house at which it will stop with the words: "It is my duty to inform you..."
-- Kate Webb, co-author of War Torn: Stories of War from the Women Reporters who Covered Vietnam
"Donna Moreau's lovely book carries us into a world defined by the exquisite longings of the heart, teaching us that a certain dignity and holiness attend those who wait bravely for the return of love."
-- Don J. Snyder, author of Of Time & Memory
"Waiting Wives casts light on one of the most overlooked aspects of all wars -- the anxiety, loneliness, and resilience of the military wives on the homefront. Donna Moreau, who knows this world from personal experience, illuminates this story with great candor, humanity, and humor. This is a timeless book, and, thanks to Moreau's gifts as a writer, an unforgettable one as well."
-- Andrew Carroll, editor of the New York Times bestseller War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars
"In the Vietnam War men volunteered and were also drafted. Today we have an 'all-volunteer' military. One thing has not changed. When our soldiers go to war they still take the hearts of their families with them. In this moving book Donna Moreau illumines the soul of the American military family. As the father of a Marine who recently deployed to the Middle East I identify deeply with the brave women and children of Schilling Manor who lived through days that felt like lifetimes."
-- Frank Schaeffer, author of Faith Of Our Sons: A Father's Wartime Diary and Keeping Faith: A Father-son Story About Love and the United States Marine Corps
"So much of what we know about women during wartime comes from contrived, one-dimensional images of dutiful wives left behind, making do, while their husbands are off performing the brave, important work of war. In the stories of her own mother and the other wives of Schilling Manor, Donna Moreau erases those stock characters, replacing them with surprising portraits of women and their children finding ways to live for years and even decades through an often-ignored kind of hell of war. Waiting Wives gives voice to the struggles, heroism and transformations just below the surface, as these American women endure the minute-by-minute, day-by-day slow torment of waiting, hoping and not knowing, during the Vietnam War."
-- Emily Yellin, author of Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II
About the Author
Donna Moreau was born in Fort Meade, Maryland, and raised on Army posts throughout the world. She now lives and writes in Leominster, Massachusetts.
Waiting Wives is her first book. Donna Moreau can be contacted at waitingwives.com or at donamore@aol.com.
