Books For The Road - When You Come Home

Our church book club likes to read a variety of books and when we were introduced to When You Come Home by Nancy Pitts, it became our biography/memoir choice for this year. The story of Daphne (Kelley) Gavin and her young soldier husband was featured in Tom Brokaw's book, The Greatest Generation. Pitts is Daphne's daughter and she tells the complete story in When You Come Home.

You meet Daphne just as she is about to meet Raymond Kelley and fall in love. Pitts takes you through their love story and the beginning of their married life which coincides with the beginning of WWII. It isn't long before Raymond is called to duty and finally shipped overseas. Daphne sends her soldier husband a poem called When You Come Home and it becomes a link between them when Raymond is killed in action. While sad, it shows the complexity of emotion and the plunk which made Brokaw call this the greatest generation.

Well written, it is a great glimpse into the emotional and factual everyday life that went on while America fought for its ideals in that great war. If you like WWII genre and want a warm-hearted story this is for you. A few tissues might be needed along the way though.