Dr. Field was part of a large American contingent that arrived in North Africa in the fall of 1942. He left behind his pregnant young wife but not--as these letters vividly attest--the world of their marriage. Frances W. Field's letters to him are rich with vivid detail of her inner and outer life. She chronicles her travels amidst the homes of family and friends and is deftly observant of the people she meets and the conditions and attitudes of a country at war. Her correspondence fuses the larger scope of a world oddly and forever changed with the delicate poignancy of the effect of her husband's absence.
That absence is the presiding force in her life and the principal inspiration for her correspondence. The America of her time, strangely devoid of its young men, is a remarkable, resilient community which fosters a moving and heartfelt backdrop for Field's personal experiences during the twenty-six months of her husband's service.
