ivyldc 's review for:

Women of the Post by Joshunda Sanders

2.75

emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

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This book is a historical novel about the 6888 battalion of the WAC in World War II, an all Black women’s battalion that traveled to England to sort the backlog of the mail to and from the troops. The story features the real characters of Major Charity Adams and other women that I believe are invented characters based on real people. The story principally follows Charity,Judy, from Bronx NY, and Mary Alice, from New Hampshire. 

I would have liked this more if there were more focus on how they actually figured out the mail. This mostly focuses on the personal growth of the characters, which was interesting, but not as interesting as the job they did and the major accomplishment of doing it ahead of schedule. 

I read this after the Netflix move Three Triple Eight came out, so that also tinged my expectations for this book. This was not the basis of the script, as the stories were very different, including the deaths of three officers which was covered differently in the movie vs this book. One other critique is in this novel Major Adams is a lesbian and in love with her second in command. There doesn’t appear to be any historical record of that which I could easily find from online sources. I found it an unusual choice. 

Still this is a good book that highlights a part of history that might have gone under recognized. Pretty good for a debut author.