You Know When the Men Are Gone by Siobhan Fallon

Having been a military wife myself, I am blown away by well the author has captured military life on paper.  I shouldn't be surprised, really, as the author is the wife of an Army Major and lived on Fort Hood herself, but I'm impressed by her writing style as well as her ability to turn the everyday worries of both soldiers and spouses into entertaining and thought evoking short stories.

There's a story about a woman who escapes loneliness in Russia just to face loneliness on an Army base while her soldier husband is gone for a year.  Can she handle it?  There's a solider in Iraq debating whether or not Army life is for him who has trouble adjusting outside of Iraq and his responsibilities.  There's a woman left at home who deals with the growing fear her husband may be having an affair.  Does getting shot at everyday justify his possible relapse into the arms of another woman?  There are the women who cannot handle a year of separation.  Some ask for divorces and some have affairs.  The soldiers come home to the repercussions, leaving one war for another, more personal war. 

And of course, there is loss and grief.  Some of the stories are related or refer to people mentioned in previous stories.  It's a short read, not necessarily due to short length, but to the fact that it's hard to put down.  I read it in one evening.  I enjoyed it immensely.  5 stars. 

I obtained an ARC of this thru Shelf Awareness.