Under a Sky of Memories is the story of Vita, Dot, and Evelyn, three American nurses who sign up to serve in World War II. As members of the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, they will be the nurses on board air ambulances, transporting injured soldiers away from the front lines so they can recover in proper hospitals.
They are posted to Catania in Sicily, where they find the work difficult but satisfying. Soon, they are all assigned to the same mission, a super flight with multiple doctors and nurses on board. A series of mishaps leads them to crash-land in Armenia … enemy territory.
The story then becomes a tale of survival: will the pilots, nurses, and medics survive?
Under a Sky of Memories is a gripping story with excellent characters. The writing is excellent, with plenty of suspense, made all the more engaging once I realised this was based on a true story. That’s actually an important fact, because otherwise it would be easy to complain the mistakes leading to the crash weren’t realistic!
The author has obviously done a heap of research, which is great, but it never overwhelms the story. Instead, the story very much focuses on the three nurses.
Recommended for historical fiction fans, especially those who enjoy World War II fiction.
Under a Sky of Memories isn’t Christian fiction but it doesn’t have any explicit sex or language, and I think it would appeal to fans of authors like Lynn Austin or Sarah Sundin.
Thanks to Lake Union Publishing and NetGalley for providing a free ebook for review.
About Soraya M Lane
Soraya M. Lane graduated with a law degree before realizing that law wasn’t the career for her and that her future was in writing. She is the author of historical and contemporary women’s fiction, and her novel Wives of War was an Amazon Charts bestseller.
Soraya lives on a small farm in her native New Zealand with her husband, their two young sons and a collection of four legged friends. When she’s not writing, she loves to be outside playing make-believe with her children or snuggled up inside reading.
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About Under a Sky of Memories
From the bestselling author of The Last Correspondent comes the powerful story of three brave women who go to war—and end up fighting for their lives.
Sicily, 1943. Three American women, all nurses in the Medical Air Evacuation Transport Squadron, are determined to do all they can for their country. Vita is fun-loving, Dot shy and sweet-natured, and Evelyn practical and determined, but for all their differences, a life of military service pulls the three together as firm friends.
When they’re selected for a daring mission, the women are proud to play their part. But disaster strikes when their plane crash-lands behind enemy lines in occupied Albania. Together with twenty-three other medics, they find themselves trapped, cut off from all communication with the squadron, and in terrifying and unimaginable danger.
As days and nights pass without hope of rescue, the group must travel on foot across unfamiliar terrain thick with Nazis and their violent local allies. Can Evelyn, Vita, and Dot survive the perilous journey through enemy territory—and finally find their way home?
I agree with the positive elements of this novel. However, I did find the romantic episodes- Vita and Bobby; Evelyn and James- in the midst of other nurses and medics, rather discomfiting. Surely the other crash survivors would find both of their leaders favoring a particular nurse , rather awkward in such dire circumstances. Also, the 3 simultaneous romances were rather predictable