The Hardest Year: A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War - Paperback

by Carole Lynn Wagener (Author), William Jon Wagener (Author)

"A profoundly affecting and complex look at war and marriage. The story, replete with personal photographs, is astonishingly intimate, a visceral peek into the irreducibly human element of a war as seen by those who fought it and those who were compelled to witness it from afar." - Kirkus Reviews

Discover the poignant love story, the gripping war story, and the meaningful lessons for any couple facing separation, all while gaining a powerful reminder of a significant time in history. Prepare for a ride filled with honesty, vulnerability, and the enduring power of love against the backdrop of a nation in conflict.

This captivating memoir throws you into the heart of the late 1960s, a time of war, social upheaval, and the fragile beginnings of young love. Separated by an ocean and the Vietnam War, newlyweds bridge the distance with heartfelt letters, revealing raw emotions, youthful insecurities, and the daily stresses of a world turned upside down.

Readers of The Women: A Novel by Kristin Hannah will appreciate this memoir, as will those interested in the Vietnam War and its impact on American families. The book is a poignant reminder of the emotional toll of war on both soldiers and their loved ones, and it offers a unique perspective on the challenges of maintaining a relationship during times of conflict.

"A personal snapshot of the turbulent 1960s as framed through the hearts of two souls divided by a war that would ultimately divide a country. An engrossing memoir of the struggle to hold a marriage together, highlighted by the actual contemporaneous exchanges of love, anger, and hope of two people trying to maintain balance as the world was literally shifting beneath their white nursing shoes and muddy combat boots." Tom Avitable, best-selling author of Give Us This Day and The Devil's Quota

"This book was as revealing as it gets for a couple. Carole and Bill held nothing back in their letters." Grace Tiscareno-Sato, Reviewer, Military Writers Society of America

"Carole's and Bill's The Hardest Year is one for the history books. Carole's and Bill's correspondences exemplify the raw emotions, new and fleeting love, and moral injury that soldiers endure. Bill's heroic time at war and Carole's tumultuous encounters on the UW-Madison campus during the riots and protests parallel each other as they maneuver through the infancy of their marriage." Laura Naylor Colbert, Iraq War Veteran, author of Sirens: How to Pee Standing Up