A review by kategci
Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey by Kathleen Rooney

5.0

Thank you to Penguin Random House and Netgalley for the opportunity to read Kathleen Rooney's new novel, Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey. Told in alternating chapters by two World War I heroes, this historical novel completely beguiled me. Cher Ami was a female homing pigeon, misnamed for a male who flew important messages between the American troops in France. In October of 1918, she helped save the Lost Battalion which was completely surrounded by German troops and in grave danger of being thoroughly wiped out. Major Charles Whittlesey was a New York attorney from a white shoe law firm who voluntarily entered the army as a Captain and was commander of the77th Division of the first Battalion, which became the Lost Battalion. Whittlesey excelled at managing his troops and while the Battalion lost a large number of men, many of his troops were able to walk out of the "Pocket" were they were pinned down. Kathleen Rooney writes beautifully descriptive sentences and while this book is at times charming, it is a story of war and she does not shy away from difficult details. I came into this story knowing nothing of the characters or their situations ( I had heard of the Lost Battalion but knew none of the details) and reading Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey reminded me how well written historical fiction both entertains and teaches.