The Fire by Night

by Teresa Messineo

A powerful and evocative debut novel about two American military nurses during World War II that illuminates the unsung heroism of women who risked their lives in the fight—a riveting saga of friendship, valor, sacrifice, and survival combining the grit and selflessness of Band of Brothers with the emotional resonance of The Nightingale.

In war-torn France, Jo McMahon, an Italian-Irish girl from the tenements of Brooklyn, tends to six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. Enemy bombs have destroyed her hospital convoy, and now Jo singlehandedly struggles to keep her patients and herself alive in a cramped and freezing tent close to German troops. There is a growing tenderness between her and one of her patients, a Scottish officer, but Jo’s heart is seared by the pain of all she has lost and seen. Nearing her breaking point, she fights to hold on to joyful memories of the past, to the times she shared with her best friend, Kay, whom she met in nursing school.

Half a world away in the Pacific, Kay is trapped in a squalid Japanese POW camp in Manila, one of thousands of Allied men, women, and children whose fates rest in the hands of a sadistic enemy. Far from the familiar safety of the small Pennsylvania coal town of her childhood, Kay clings to memories of her happy days posted in Hawaii, and the handsome flyer who swept her off her feet in the weeks before Pearl Harbor. Surrounded by cruelty and death, Kay battles to maintain her sanity and save lives as best she can . . . and live to see her beloved friend Jo once more.

When the conflict at last comes to an end, Jo and Kay discover that to achieve their own peace, they must find their place—and the hope of love—in a world that’s forever changed. With rich, superbly researched detail, Teresa Messineo’s thrilling novel brings to life the pain and uncertainty of war and the sustaining power of love and friendship, and illuminates the lives of the women who risked everything to save others during a horrifying time.

Genres: Historical Fiction, World War II, Fiction, War, Historical, Romance, Adult Fiction

306 pages, Hardcover

First published January 17, 2017

About the author

Teresa Messineo is a graduate of DeSales University where she majored in English, minored in Biology and Theology, and earned her Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and Publishing (MFA-CW), the terminal degree in its field. She is an adjunct professor of English at Drexel University, and is certified to teach English at the 7-12th grade, college, and graduate levels. She spent seven years researching The Fire by Night (HarperCollins), her historical fiction novel about frontline military nurses of the Second World War. The Fire by Night is currently available in three languages in seven countries, opening in the number one slot on Canada’s Best Sellers List. Her newest book, What We May Become (Severn House), is set in Tuscany during WWII and deals with themes of betrayal, survival, and rising above our darkest selves. The foreign print rights – and film rights – for both novels are currently being marketed worldwide.

Teresa is the mother of four children, whom she home schooled for twenty years. She is passionate about social justice and giving voice to the silenced. Her other interests include swing dancing, foreign language, hunger relief, travel, distance swimming, and hiking. She can be reached for book signings, book club appearances, public readings, lectures, and school, college, and community presentations at www.tmessineo.com

Reviews

[Lindsay L · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars! What an eye-opening, well-researched book! I have read plenty of WWII stories, but this was one gave me a completely fresh perspective.

This story is told from the viewpoints of two military field nurses, Jo and Kay. I learned a lot from this book and have gained so much respect for these women who willingly put their lives at risk in the battlefields to help their soldiers and war effort. Prior to reading this, I had never really thought about all that was involved in these nurses' duties - their strength was immeasurable. These women witnessed and worked through horrible wartime atrocities, just as bad as any of the soldiers experienced and they had to be strong and remain the caregivers through all of it.

A good majority of this novel is told through Jo and Kay's memories and flashbacks which I found added depth to their characters and lives. Something that really stuck with me after finishing this book was that several of these nurses (and soldiers) were coping with strong feelings of guilt after returning home. They felt guilty for returning home alive while many of their fighting men and fellow nurses were killed on the battlefields. This guilt was life consuming for many of them.

Though this was a fictional story, the details and descriptions are based on a massive amount of research as explained in the author's Acknowledgements. The author, Teresa Messineo, seems like an incredible woman - I enjoyed reading her Acknowledgments section where she reveals bits of her personality and personal life. She researched and wrote this book all the while exclusively home-schooling her four children - the amount of dedication that would take is incredible!

I'm going to end with a powerful quote from Messineo's Acknowledgments section. "These women (military field nurses) volunteered to go to a war most men were drafted to."

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

World War II, and two young woman, Kay and Jo, feel the need to do more, to sacrifice forma short time their lives in order to help the fighting soldiers, They join the military, attend nursing school, where they bond and become best friends. At the end of training they are hoping to be assigned to the same base but Jo is assigned to the western front while Kay is assigned to the South Pacific. For a while it looks as if Kay has pulled the ideal assignment, beautiful weather, beautiful beaches, but then Japan bombs Pearl Harbor and both women find themselves in perilous conditions.

I found this book to be intense, was very surprised by how much and how much I grew to like these young women, personally invested in their fates. Extremely well written, meticulously researched, the details mentioned that fit the time from morphine in boxes, to Kay's treatment in the camp. The author details her research at books end. Their were parts that made me shiver and parts where I actually got teary eyed, I was definitely emotionally invested. This a book about love, yes, there are two love stories here as well, friendship, sacrifice and commitment.

For years women's roles in the war and in other areas has been non existent or sadly lacking at the least. It is refreshing that for the last several years these books, fiction and non are now being written. That women are finally being recognized for the many different parts they played, the danger they willingly put themselves in, and the tole it took. Many after suffered in silence, going through the same suffering PTSD that the returning soldiers did but this was never acknowledged. I applaud the new authors now writing these book featuring women from the Civil War and upwards.

ARC from publisher.
Publishes Jan, 2017.

[Erin · Rating 5 out of 5]

From the moment she had stepped off the gangplank at Pearl Harbor-back when that name had just been a port of call- she had lived with her feet off the ground, in a world set apart. That dream world was now shattered. She found herself dirty, disheveled, dripping with sweat. She was hungry and thirsty so tired that she wanted to lie down in the dirt road and sleep and sleep and never wake up.

Oh 2017, you really are giving readers a beautiful year in debut authors with such outstanding books. It's only March! I would ask you to sloooow down, but I'm a greedy reader with high expectations. I love this book so much that I must apologize for how rambly this review is going to be. So glad that I read this on a Saturday morning because if it had been a work day, I would have been pretty unmotivated to peel my eyes away from this book.

"The Fire By Night" is a World War 2 historical fiction told from the viewpoints of best friends and American nurses, Jo McMahon and Kay Elliot. Teresa Messineo researched for seven years to give her book the right feeling and future readers can be rest assured that they're in good hands. I was there in the Pacific as Kay and the other nurses hear the approaches of the Japanese soldiers and I was with Jo on the European front, in the darkness, trying to keep six ailing soldiers alive.

This is my fight now. Marriage, children, whatever you called it, 'being a lady'-once, maybe, that might have been me. But I'm a lifer. This is my life, and with my experience, I could teach others what I learned the hard way. You say this is a man's world, sir, and I am not so naive as to disagree with you. But-- if the world of men ever tears itself apart again,it will take an army of nurses to put it back together.

Both Jo and Kay's stories illustrate the way in which women/nurses were treated by doctors and by the military brass. Even when Kay and her fellow nurses are taken to a Japanese internment camp, they're manipulated to play the part their captors want them to act. What is more appalling is the way in which there was little care for the wounded. It can be surmised that had it not been for the nurses, the body count of war dead from all involved nations could have been much higher. Thank goodness we have authors like Teresa Messineo to bring their stories to our attention.

A deeply moving book!

[Magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fire by Night is a book that really shows the dark side of WW2. The book as two POV, first we have Jo McMahon who is stuck tending six seriously wounded soldiers in a makeshift medical unit. She had to do this all alone after bombs destroyed the hospital convoy she would have traveled with and to make it all worse is the unit close to the Germans. Her friend Kay is trapped in a Japanese POW camp in Manila. Both of them have gone through so much and in flashbacks, we get to see what happened to them, both during the nurse training as well events before the predicaments they are in now. It's a story about heartache and of losses, but it's also a story about friendship.

I found The Fire by Night to be an engaging and strong book. The characters are well-developed and it's hard not to feel for them and all they have gone through in life and all they have to go through before the war is over. There is a moment in the beginning of the book when Jo realizes that the American soldiers are not as they appear in the movies, they are not always a charming Cary Grant type, they can be quite unpleasant and rude and that felt so good to read. Well, not that they can be assholes, but that not everything is black and white. It doesn't feel like a glamorized WW2 novel with no depth and flat characters. This book feels real and everything they go through feels real.

I'm deeply impressed with this book and I hope that Teresa Messineo writes more books like this.

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

[Bill · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

"Oh Teresa Messineo you are killing me! Parts of this book are so mesmerizingly compelling and while other segments read like a Hallmark Channel romance ... I love Jo and Kay but I am so mixed and torn about how you delivered them to me. "
-Bill Westerlind, member of Goodreads and Free Bird Readers and amateur book reviewer

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Westfield Athenaeum and as much as I wanted to love it, I just didn't! I liked it very much but love … not quite. The field of WWII historical fiction is so very crowded with so many extraordinary reads like All The Light We Cannot See that unfortunately, this one pales in comparison. I loved the view of the war from the perspective of military field nurses and I liked the connection of friendship between the Pacific and European theatres of war. But some of the content had a soap opera feel to me and the quality of writing was very good but not extraordinary. For me the bar has been set extraordinarily high in this genre.

I love WWII historical fiction and this was my very first foray into the subset of the genre that centered on the experiences of battlefield military nurses. Jo McMahon and Kay Elliot, medical nurses who became tightly bonded, best friends after a sexual assault while working in a hospital in NY, signed up to join the war effort in 1941 after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Kay left for the Pacific. Jo shipped out to North Africa.

It’s the Spring of 1945. Jo McMahon, a twenty-six year old Army Corp nurse of Irish-Italian descent from NYC, is laboring to save the lives of six soldiers in a solitary medical tent on the Western Front in France. The conditions are harsh, the rest of the medical staff is killed when the retreating American convoy is strafed by the Germans and Jo is the only remaining nurse to treat the sick and wounded in the austere remnants of the once fully functional field medical facility. For Jo, the war boiled down to the six lives she struggled to save.

For Kay Elliot, the Mount Carmel, PA native who got the plum assignment in the Pacific when she left New York in the spring of 1941, the bliss of the sunny Pacific quickly turned into the hell of the surrender of Bataan, the siege of the Malinta Tunnel on Corregidor Island in the Philippines and internment in the notorious Santo Tomas Internment Camp. During her three years of confinement, Kay shed nearly fifty pounds and was near death upon liberation in 1945.

The woman stay connected despite the thousands of miles of separation through flashbacks, memories and letters written that would never be delivered. Both struggle with the violence and cruelty of war, the ironic hopelessness of attending to the wounds of injured soldiers only to send them back into the field and collect their scattered body parts for later identification, and the emotional walls they construct to survive the psychological horrors of death and endless suffering.

I found it very interesting how each of these very young women managed to find love despite the violence and destruction all around them and their mighty struggle to exhibit perhaps innate motherly compassion on the battlefield while at the same time fighting back their emotions to remain focused on the survival of their patients and themselves. In my mind’s eye I could envision the rise and fall of tall, thick fortified walls holding back or releasing torrents of emotions!

After the war, unbeknownst to them or the medical community at the time, both women find their way to cope with what is now identified as PTSD, to find their place in the world after so much stress and trauma and to seek out love that was taken from them during the war.

While societal norms at the time gave little thought or praise for the women who served in WWII, I found these two young war veterans to be extraordinary souls and I came away with a far greater understanding and appreciation for the role and experiences of military field nurses.

Overall, this was a very good first effort for Teresa Messineo and I look forward her future literary adventures. I recommend you give this book a try!

[DJ Sakata · Rating 5 out of 5]

Favorite Quotes:

When a command comes to fall back, it takes an infantryman less than ten seconds to simply turn around – and run. But not military nurses, whose only creed, whose one, unbreakable rule, is never to leave their patients. Never.

Jo looked at Captain Clark now as he came up to her, hands on hips, spitting before he spoke, and realized how much the movies had conditioned her, had prejudiced her. She’d believed that all U.S. soldiers in perilous positions would be just as truthful, upright, clean-mouthed, good, and pure as they were on-screen. Here was an American, and the odds were against him, certainly. And yet the man was still a bastard.

Kay liked to imagine that somewhere – in a small fishing village perhaps, far from all this – a nice plump Japanese woman was bouncing her baby on her knee, singing him a funny lullaby about dragons and magic kites, because other than her, they all seemed madmen to Kay – cruel, hard madmen. Destroying just to destroy, because the rest of humanity wasn’t human, wasn’t like them.


My Review:

The Fire by Night was found treasure, it was an extraordinarily well-crafted, poignant, deeply researched, and beautifully written book. The story featured two young female nurses who had become friends during their training and served in the Army during WWII. One nurse was sent to Europe to work in field hospitals frequently on or near the front lines, and the other was sent to the Pacific where she found herself an unwelcome and poorly treated guest of the Japanese government and placed in an internment camp in the Philippines.

Ms. Messineo’s magical arrangements of words immediately ensnared my full attention and inserted me into the corners of their tents and into their pockets. I heard the weeping, felt the turmoil, and smelled the adrenaline. She also placed me between their ears, behind their eyes, and straight into their souls. I was devastated when they were abused and my heart lifted when they fell in love. Ms. Messineo’s scenes were vividly and thoroughly detailed for sight, sound, smell, and emotional tone. She cleverly wove in exceptional and thoughtful ancillary details that added considerable depth and gravitās to the saga. I was awed by her extensive knowledge, sensitive and insightful observations, and breathtaking word prowess.

I had no earthly idea nor had I ever considered what military nursing during wartime would entail, what their living conditions would have been like, or the hardships the women would have faced from the very people they were serving. If I had thought about it at all, I would have assumed they had been in military hospitals. I finished the book with an intense appreciation for their sacrifice and survival, as well as for their bravery. I do love a feisty heroine, and Ms. Messineo gave me two.

[Marie-Josee Saumer · Rating 5 out of 5]

When most of think about world war 2, what comes to mind? We mainly think about the soldiers that fought, suffered, died and survived the war, we also think about all the civilians that have lost their lives, suffered and survived the war. Now what we do not necessarily take the time to recognize are the military nurses that volunteered years of their life to helping injured soldiers and went through hell themselves to survive or at least try to survive.
Although this story is a fictional story, the author did a amazing work in terms of researching information and facts from world war 2, which is why this novel was so well written and such a captivating read. As I was reading the story about Jo and Kay, I felt like I was there and experiencing it all. I would definitely recommend this book and I would also read it again in a heartbeat, it was very enjoyable.

[Melissa Crytzer Fry · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is something about this little book that packs a big punch. Perhaps it’s the reality of nurses who volunteered to serve during the war and who were put into the same horrific, life-threatening predicaments as soldiers, but who were never fully recognized for it? Perhaps it was learning of their mettle, their humanity.

While this book had a more commercial feel to it than the books I gravitate toward in my 4- and 5-star ratings (faster pace vs. a quiet unraveling, less emphasis on setting and sensory description, lots of exposition, and some parts with a romance novel-feel to them), I have to say that it gripped me. To be honest, I’d recently finished reading another William Morrow author of WWII historical fiction and was sure nothing could top it. And yet…

While this book was completely different than the other I read - in style and in content - different than a lot of WWII stories, it was still quite engaging. Told from the perspective of American nurses, it is a story that brought to light geographic areas and events during WWII of which I was completely ignorant. I love when I learn something new, when I am moved by it. And to be clear, this novel – particularly Kay’s chapters – were so emotionally resonant and unsettling that I found myself unable to sleep at night. That’s honestly never happened to me before.

This is a story of incredibly brave women, loss, friendship, a love story, a missing piece of history. I think readers of women’s fiction – and book clubs – will find a lot to admire and discuss in this book, which, to me, read as two separate (and interesting) stories – more so than a tied-in narrative of two friends (at least at the conclusion of the novel, where I sense book length/editing might have contributed to my feelings of a rushed tie-in between characters). It is a fast, quick read. Even so, any book that elicits the kind of emotion this one did for me, is a book worthy of praise. And any author who delves passionately into women’s history the way Messineo did is one to be admired.

[Denise · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Fire by Night by Teresa Messineo is a realistic, part romance, part historical fiction novel about two combat nurses, who were friends. Jo McMahon went to the Western Front and Kay Elliott went to Hawaii and Japan. This is a well research novel about these combat nurses who were unsung heros and made an incredible contribution to the war efforts. It is an emotional, shocking, powerful novel that is NOT your typical Hollywood glamour war story.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read a lot of books about World War II and am especially interested in the nurses who were often in harm's way. This book is one of the best that I have read on nurse's roles, the danger that they were often faced with and the grit and determination they had to have to survive.

Jo and Kay met in nursing school and became friends. They both wanted adventure in their lives and they signed for the Army, hoping to go the the same location. Jo was sent to Europe, she wasn't exactly sure where because the enemy lines kept changing and the hospital had to move when the enemy got too close. As the book begins, she has been left behind with six patients while waiting for transport to another area. Kay is sent to the Philippines which is a real paradise for the nurses until Pearl Harbor is attacked and the Japanese troops take over the Philippines. The nurses are sent to an interment camp and are kept in cruel captivity for the remainder of the war.

The novel is told by Jo and Kay in alternating chapters. Many times in a book with two characters telling their story, I like one more than the other and skip ahead to read her story. In this book, I loved both Jo and Kay and was extremely interested in both of their struggles to survive the war. They were both faced with different but equally difficult circumstances and their survival was often in doubt. The author did a tremendous amount of research and it's very apparent in the details of the story.


This is a story about the bravery and determination needed be a nurse on the battlefield during a war that changed the world as they knew it and their struggle to learn to live and accept their lives after the war was over.


Thanks to the author for a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

NOTE: This review contains spoilers, so if you haven't read it yet, skip this review!

I was really torn about whether or not I liked this book. No, that's not quite right. I did LIKE it, but my enjoyment of it went up and down. At one point I would have rated it a 1, then a few pages later I would have given it a 5. There was some beautiful writing, followed by some naive, childish writing, and I became irritated by all of the overly long sentences. They work well when showing a character's mental state, or in an action sequence, but they were WAY overused in normal sequences.

The beginning of the novel was far too depressing, with no break. Yes, I know both women were dealing with some horrendous circumstances, but the writer desperately needed to find a way to break up these sequences with something lighter. I thought she was trying to do this with her flashbacks to how Jo and Kay met, but even the flashbacks were depressing! This got to be so bad I almost stopped reading, and had to force myself not to skim.

This was also obviously written by someone who has not been to war. It was surprisingly naive in some places.

I felt the sequence where Jo operated on the major (appendix) was extremely well done. You could tell the author had done her research on techniques, tools, etc., but the confrontation afterwards between Jo and Captain Clark was unrealistic and a bit childish. This was one of several places in which the characters didn't act and react like real human beings.

There were also several places where the author tried too hard to be profound, which actually hurt the impact of the scene and turned the drama into melodrama. She should have let the circumstances speak for themselves without applying literary devices.

In contrast, the scene where the Army Ranger died in Jo's arms was very powerful and extremely well written.

The flashback to the abusive doctor at the hospital where Jo and Kay worked was naive and unrealistic. The abusive doctor was poorly conceived and amateurishly drawn, a caricature of a bad guy, and their "victory" over him was melodramatic and VERY unrealistic.

I especially had a problem with the scene where the German soldier kissed Jo. Even if you could accept the soldier kissing her, her kissing him back (no matter what mental state she was in) was not only unrealistic, it smacked of a bad romance novel and was an affront to all of the battle-hardened, courageous army nurses this story is supposedly trying to honor. Quite frankly, our nurses were far too professional to have done something like that, and it would have never, ever happened.

Jo saying goodbye to David was very touching and very well written. Overall, I liked all of Jo's patients, and felt like they were handled well.

Jo kissing Duncan...NO, NO, NO, another example of a bad romance novel in the midst of a supposedly realistic portrayal of army nurses during war. First of all, given the circumstances, Duncan (even if he was the biggest cad in the world) would have never kissed her. He just saw her pass out, for heaven's sake! And second of all, she would have never, ever let herself be kissed. Very disappointing.

The ending where David returns was nicely done, but very predictable. I knew it was coming long before David showed up.

Overall, I thought this was a valiant attempt to write a novel about group of women who have never received the honor they deserve. I just wish the novel had been a little more consistently good.

[The Lit Bitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

2017 has started off as a very good year for me when it comes to reading choices! This book, THE FIRE BY NIGHT, sounded so full of potential and interesting that I couldn’t pass it up.

This was story of friendship, valor, sacrifice, and survival and one that will likely stay with readers long after they are finished.

I was surprised at how easy it was to like the main characters. I worried I would like one more than the other but I found myself equally captivated by each one and invested in each of their stories. One of the things that drew me to this book was the fact that both women were war time nurses. I did my master’s thesis on women in Civil War nursing so war time nurses and their stories always hold a place in my heart. So when this one came across my desk for review, I was more than happy to review it.

This book is Messineo’s debut novel and it’s an impressive first novel. Not only was the content well researched, but the emotion on each page was so well done and beautiful. The reader will find it hard to not become invested in the characters and their stories. One thing that I thought set this novel apart from some of the other books I’ve read about women in WWII was that it focused on some of the ‘real issues’ that are sometimes left out of the female narrative, like shell shock and PTSD. I think it’s important to remember that soldiers weren’t the only ones suffering from PTSD, but the women, such as nurses on the front lines, were just as susceptible.

Messineo did a great job at showing the emotional side effects of war when it came to the characters and I applaud her for her ability to solicit such an emotional reaction from her readers.

I will say that I liked this book more than I expected to. I guess I expected something a little less intense but when I started the book I was drawn in by the story and before I knew it, I couldn’t put it down. It’s a beautifully written novel and sure to please readers who love war time stories about friendship, perseverance, and survival.

See my full review here

[Tammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful. I was riveted from the first chapter. This book pulls no punches and offers an unflinching look at the anguish and despair of WWII from the perspective of two nurses. The Fire by Night is about harrowing situations, heroes and heartbreak. Read this!

[Celia · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book written about nurses near the front line in WWII. A book written about the horrors of war from a WOMAN'S point of view.

I have read many books about WWII but none as brutal as this. Makes other books describing the period tame in comparison.

The author's description of what she learned while researching her book says a lot:

"Wherever I went for answers, I was told the topic I was researching simply did not exist."

"“There were no women anywhere near the front,” the voice on the phone told me. “They were way back. You can stop researching now.” Apparently, this was solely a man’s war."

"One thing that struck me immediately was that the photos and transcripts had only just become declassified a year or so earlier (this would have been in 2007)."

"Why millions of Americans still today have no idea of the sacrifices and bravery their grandmothers and great-aunts made during the war?"

Read at your own risk. It was painful for me.

Still the book deserves its stars because of the effort put in by the author to impart this hidden information.

5 stars

[Asheley T. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book caught my eye mainly because it is the story of two American nurses that enlisted to serve during World War II: Jo was sent to The Western Front and Kay served at Pearl Harbor. I’m especially interested in these wartime, frontline nurses because I am a nurse and this is a branch of my career that I know almost nothing about. I was also intrigued by the fact that these two nurses were best friends back in New York before even going to war.

Kay and Jo tell their stories in separate POV-chapters. Kay ends up going to Pearl Harbor before Jo finishes her training in New York. She sends letters back to Jo about how beautiful it is in that part of the Pacific and how she has fallen in love with a soldier-even though she isn’t supposed to. Kay loves her job. Then the attack on Pearl Harbor happens and completely throws Kay’s life into an uproar. She is sent to a Japanese POW camp where she still works as a nurse, but the conditions there are inhumane and degrading, and death is constantly around her. Kay daydreams of seeing Jo again but she isn’t even sure she will make it out of the camp alive.

Meanwhile, out on The Western Front, Jo and her medical coworkers have begun to pack up their tent hospital in order to move away from the front line into a more safe area when they are ambushed. Nearly all of their medical equipment and supplies are lost and Jo finds herself the sole caretaker for the six remaining wounded soldiers. She is constantly on the move as they often require total care, and Jo is even required to do work that is beyond her training-like life-saving surgery. Jo works in constant fear of another attack by the Germans, but that cannot be helped and she cannot stop providing care to the six men in need. Although the odds are stacked against most of them due to their critical status, their survival rate is astoundingly high. Jo thinks of Kay all the time-wondering what she is doing and if she is okay, wherever she may be.

Often in multiple-POV stories, one perspective stands out to me more than the others. In this case, I found Jo’s story to be the more compelling of the two. I loved reading what she was up to on The Western Front, how she was improvising with few/no supplies, and how her strength was being tested, how vulnerable she was unbeknownst to her charges. I know from experience that sometimes nurses get caught up in the medical aspects of our training and often inadvertently forget to provide that hands-on, sit-with-our-patient kind of care that nursing is really all about, but I admire the way Jo was able to do both. Not always, mind you. There were times when she had to separate herself personally from the hell she was living in and from the personal hell of the soldiers’ situations in order to stay focused and provide care, and I understand that too. But when she needed to, Jo sat with them; she held their hand, she talked them through their nightmares and the dark places of that war. THAT is nursing. (I love Jo. So much.)

She felt like she had no courage and no strength left, no certainty of her future, of her patients’ future, of the future of the whole damned world. But the only thing she was sure of–as she got up and made her way, achingly, toward the front of the tent–was that she had just acted as a nurse. That that had been important. She had sat with a patient for a few moments only, but she knew what she had done, what she had been. She had been a nurse. And she was surprised how that still made her feel.

Kay embodied nursing from another aspect entirely, although in no less a capacity. It was a little harder for me to relate to Kay on a personal level (until the very last chapter) because thankfully I am so far removed from Kay’s position. The thing I loved most about Kay, though, is that even though her ability to take care of her patients was challenged by her biggest, most crippling fears, she persevered and did her job to the best of her ability. She provided the best care that she could, even when she could barely able to stand up.

“Kay?”
Kay looked at her companion, and for a moment she could see her again. For a moment she was herself.
“Kay, honey? Thought I had lost you there for a moment.”
Kay thought she had too, but was too weak to answer.
“It’s time for our shift, sweetheart. Time to go to work.”

While I was reading, it honestly felt like the hits just kept on coming to these two. It felt like they just couldn’t catch a break. It occurred to me that I could put my book down and take a breather but that they never could; “taking a breather” wasn’t really an option for these women that were in the heaviest and hardest places during the war, and that resonated strongly with me throughout this book, from the first page until I finished the story.

Aside from the nursing parts of this story, I found the history incredibly interesting even though it was tough to read at times. This book grabbed hold of me and didn’t really let go; what I mean is that it was high-intensity in terms of emotion. It was heartbreaking in that even though this is fiction, it is based on truth, and there just isn’t very much happy that happened on The Western Front (at least not in this book) nor in the Japanese POW camps.

There is a portion of this book that takes place post-war and while it is much, much less intense: it isn’t my favorite part of the story. I liked the wartime parts best. I think this is because after the war was over, Kay and Jo are able to think and dwell on loves lost/loves missing and I feel like this segment of the story is less developed than the war portions. There is one romance that takes up a short portion of the book and I never felt completely invested in it. I feel like there is something missing in the build-up.

Ultimately, I’m amazed at the depth of knowledge it took to write this book and how much I learned about nurses on the front and nursing during World War II. As a nurse myself, this was such an enjoyable read, even though it was heavy at times. I appreciate so much the women that have gone before me and that have had to work under such different and more difficult conditions; something that I hope I will never have to experience nor understand.


I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you, William Morrow Books!

Find this review and more like it on my blog, Into the Hall of Books!

[Teddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I do read other book genres, historical fiction is my favorite. World War II is my top favorite and I tend to read a lot, both fiction and non-fiction. When I heard about ‘Fire By Night’ at a webinar with the publisher, I knew I had to read it.

Fire By Night is a bit different than many WWII books out there. Its focus is on two American Military nurses that served near two different war fronts. Jo and Kay are from two very different parts of the U.S. Jo is from Brooklyn and Kay from a small town. However, in training they become fast friend and hope to serve together. That does not happen. Kay is sent to the Pacific and attends party after party and soaks in the sun. Jo is sent to France and is jealous that her friend is having so much fun.

The fun does not last for Kay. Once Pearl Harbour is bombed, the “endless” parties cease and the war with Japan begins. Kay’s story starts in the Japanese POW camp in Manila that she is now in. Jo’s unit is moving out because their make shift hospital is now part of the front. However, not everyone can move out at once and Jo is left to tend 6 badly wounded soldiers alone with just one elderly doctor. They know the trucks will be back for them soon but then here there was an attack and the road has a big hole in it and the trucks can’t get through. Soon the doctor dies and Jo is left on her own to tend to the men.

Told in turns, we join Jo and Kay during their terrifying ordeals and there aftermath. I connected with both Jo and Kay and rooted for them to survive. Both are strong female and heroic characters! This is Teresa Messineo’s first novel but you wouldn’t know that from reading it. She has a strong command in character development, prose, and a sense of time and place. With each chapter, I was instantly transported from Manila to France smoothly. I felt like I was both places, experiencing what Kay and Jo were experiencing. I hope that Ms. Messineo continues writing because I would love to read more by her! I highly recommend ‘Fire by Night’. It really has something for everyone; war, survival, terror, and even a bit of romance. WWII fiction at it's finest!

[Kris (My Novelesque Life) · Rating 3 out of 5]

RATING: 2.5 STARS
2017; William Morrow/HarperCollins

I was SUPER excited to read this novel as it was the nurses of WWII that were the main characters.  As I started reading I was impressed with the writer's research and writing.  Several chapters in...it was started to read like a Nicholas Sparks novel.  Now, I read Sparks (though I have not read anything in awhile) and enjoy his books, but I have to be in a certain mood for it.  The predictability of sorrow, sappy romance and hope of HEA (happily ever after).  I was looking for more of...Saving Private Ryan meets Call the Midwife.  I gave this book two and a half stars for the writing and research. I might have liked this novel more if I read it in a different frame of mind.  You let me know!

***I received an eARC from EDELWEISS***

My Novelesque Life

[Eileen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Harrowing, and at times so very moving, was this tale of two American nurses serving on different fronts during World War II. Jo and Kay became friends in nursing school, and, together, they joined the Army nurse corps.
The horrific challenges of practicing medicine in a theatre of war were many! Jo was to manage her task of tending to six critically wounded soldiers in the mayhem of a field hospital/tent while coping with a shortage of necessary drugs, impossibly unsanitary conditions, widespread shell shock, and poor morale…….and death.
Kay, initially stationed at Pearl Harbor, enjoyed a few idyllic weeks there before finding herself in a Japanese POW camp. Simply staying alive became a terrible struggle. As she attempted to care for the sick and wounded, her own health suffered dreadfully. During a physical upon her release at the end of the war, Kay’s weight was noted at seventy four pounds. The examining doctor asked what it had been before she was taken captive. Upon hearing one hundred and twenty-five pounds, his eyes grew misty. Much has been written about the horrors of the German concentration camps. Prior to reading this novel, I had little awareness of the ongoing nightmares endured by so many in the Pacific theatre. ‘The Japanese had found the most effective way to torture, to maim, to destroy the spirit and the body, all at once: filth and squalor and isolation and – above all else, starvation, always starvation.’ P 102
And the vermin!
‘Mice and rats were everywhere, in the wards, in the showers……..Rats brought fleas, and fleas carried typhus and plague.’
For both these women, as for countless others, the emotional toll was staggering as well: grief, isolation, at times a sense of futility. However, love did bloom in impossible circumstances, bringing a few rays of light through the clouds, so there was some relief. I must admit that I found the early part which dealt with Jo’s situation in the western front a bit fragmented and confusing, although perhaps that was the author’s way of conveying the chaotic atmosphere.
The book was clearly well researched, but it will break your heart! What a thrill, though, when a debut novel is a winner! As Teresa Messineo concludes her acknowledgements at the end, she makes a very stirring statement about the military nurses of the Second World War.
‘These women volunteered to go to a war most men were drafted into. They signed up willingly, believing in the ideals of democracy and freedom and independence………… And when those ideals began to fade in the horror of war …….. when those women were nearly crushed by hard labor, by isolation, by imprisonment or starvation or the loss of everything they held dear ……..-for as long as they could endure – they would continue to bring humanity to a world gone mad.‘
I certainly share the author’s deep admiration, and the book made me realize, yet again, how people struggle on through seemingly impossible odds. Quiet heroism - it does put things in perspective!

[Fred Shaw · Rating 4 out of 5]

Who are the heroes in war? The soldier fighting at the front? The general with the strategic plan? The nurses and doctors saving lives in field hospitals?

“The Fire by Night”, by Teresa Messineo, published 2017, is an historical novel of 2 WW II Army nurses, friends from nursing school, who went to war to save lives. “Jo” an Irish American and Brooklynite, went to Europe, Kay a small-town girl from Pennsylvania, went to the Pacific. Very different backgrounds and theaters of war but very similar conditions – miserable.

Messineo did her research well to tell this story, create memorable characters and vivid scenery. Jo landed on a beachhead in Africa, alongside the soldiers and eventually ended up in a field hospital somewhere in France. It was cold and muddy, poorly supplied with very sick patients: a priest with PTSD, a typhus victim, a Frenchman badly burned face and a Scotsman major with appendicitis. Without a doctor and supplies, she very nearly lost her mind with fear, fever and starvation.

Kay’s story was very different, but similar in many ways. Kay went ashore at Pearl Harbor and paradise, met a man, got married and pregnant in 6 months. Then the Japanese struck. They were moved to the Philippines, captured in Corregidor and spent 3 long years as Japanese as POW’s. I believe the Japanese were as bad or worse than the Germans when it came to cruelty, especially to POW’s.

The best thing about the book is the realism of war and how Jo and Kay survive. I experienced what they experienced and felt what they felt. The authors final parting allowed the reader to follow Jo and Kay after they were rescued. Kay went home to a hero’s welcome and her mother. Jo went to England to try and find her typhus patient.

Obviously, there is more to the story than I am telling, so read the book; and you can decide who the real heroes are.

[Marialyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 wonderfully outstanding stars

What a story and what a book I have had the pleasure of reading! Ms Messineo has written a novel that points to the extreme courage, dedication, and love that the Army nurses displayed during World War 2. She introduces us to two wonderful characters in the form of Kay, a nurse stationed in the South Pacific at the dawn of the war and the bombing of Pearl Harbor, and Jo, a nurse entrenched in war torn France. The way in which these two women lived their lives, caring for those entrusted to them was awe inspiring. Bravery had no better a meaning than what these Army nurses did out of love, compassion, and the will to help others. They oftentimes were the forgotten heroes of the war.

How they survive and how they helped others to do the same while life around them daily was a living hell made this story come alive with the feats of courage that women are so capable of. As the author points out so well in her Acknowledgements, these women were not drafted, they volunteered to go into war. This book is written in tribute to their valor, to their strength and their contributions to the war effort that made a huge difference to the men they cared for. Their sacrifices should never be forgotten by a grateful nation as they and those who have come after them are what has made our nation great.

[Tina Culbertson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stories about nurses serving during war time has always been an interest to me. This book was very well researched and I can say, I would anything else by this author.
This fictionalized account of two nurses, Jo and Kay, was very detailed and realistic. As they wanted adventure in their lives and the war was on, they joined the service hoping to be stationed together. The book is split in two narratives, going back and forth between Jo’s experience in the Europe and Kay in Hawaii and Japan.

Both stories were fascinating, gritty and real. Kay’s story is very sad and I wouldn’t have had the stamina or willpower to stay alive in an internment camp. Truly, I would have just done something crazy so the Japanese guards would kill me outright and end my misery. Jo was stationed in Europe and ended up separated from her hospital and fellow nurses and doctors. She was left with 6 patients who could not be moved, the battle lines and fighting going on all around her. This story is about women who go above and beyond with their determination, their dedication to nursing and the harsh conditions they enduring without giving up.

The aftermath of these experiences are also detailed as the women try and adjust to nursing in peacetime.

[Cora · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this book a lot of credit for what it was trying to do. It followed two army nurses during WW2, one on the Western Front, and one in the Pacific arena, during the final days of the war. Jo (the one in Europe, and to me the more compelling character) is left with 6 patients in a field hospital on the front line, with dwindling medicine and food, and several acute cases on her hands; and Kay has been captured by the Japanese and is taken to an internment camp in the Philippines, with horrific conditions. Kay's story tells some of the background of the two friends, how they met, etc., as well as her experiences in the camp, with a bit at the end about her life after she gets home. Jo's story is half during, and half after the war, and goes into some depth on her recovery from the trauma of being on the front lines. I thought the part during the war was much more immediate and visceral, but I think it was important to show that these women could and did have things like shell-shock that we mainly associate with men during that time period.
This doesn't bump Code Name Verity off the top of my list of favorite women-in-WW2 novels, but it was definitely worth reading.

[Rhonda Ruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love wwII books and read quite a few. This was a great story with sadness and love and friendship. It was a very easy read. The reason for 4 stars is i found in some Jo chapters things got jumbled up a bit and i found myself having to go back and reread. Other then that i highly recommend

[ᴘᴀᴛʀʏᴄᴊᴀ ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Piękne i poruszające historie! ♡

[Jenny Q · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 Stars. Sometimes the books that move me the most are the hardest to review. It can be hard to put thoughts into words when a book so completely absorbs me, chews me up, and spits me out. I'm sure there are other novels out there focusing specifically on nurses in World War II, but this is the first one I've read, and though it's only February, I can already say this is one of the best books I'll read all year. It may end up being THE best. It's going to be hard to beat. The back cover copy does a great job of telling you everything you need to know about the plot, so I will forego a recap and just tell you why you should read this book.

War is hell. And even when it's over, when the fighting and killing and pain and suffering and heartbreak give way to elation and hopefulness, everyone is fundamentally changed by what they had to do to survive. Teresa Messineo spent seven years researching this book, and boy does it show. The descriptions of the effects of war on the human soul are breathtaking. The depictions of what these nurses endured, their courage, their determination, are astounding. This book may be the ultimate tribute to the thousands of nurses whose valiant efforts still remain in the shadows of the men whose lives they fought so hard to save. I had never heard of the Malinta Tunnel, Santo Tomas, or the Angels of Bataan before reading this book, and I studied history in college with a concentration on US military history. We covered Bataan and Corregidor, but we never talked about these nurses. Messineo's debut novel finally brings these women into the light. Though this is by no means a light read. I cried many times over the course of this novel as Jo and Kay fought to save their patients--and themselves--while remembering events that made them into the nurses they are in their quieter moments, when there was nothing to do but think and pray. After four years of war, they have a lot of painful memories with the bright moments far too few in number. And their struggles in the immediate aftermath of the war to reclaim their souls and find a place in a world so changed were just as emotional and illuminating. As a hopeless romantic, I so badly wanted a happy ending for both women, though happy endings in war often have to be redefined.

The Fire by Night is exceptionally well written. Probably one of the most impressive debut novels I've ever read. As I said earlier, I have no qualms about naming this one of the best books of the year. But with all that being said, it's not perfect. I could have done without some random, brief shifts in point of view to people who interacted with Jo and Kay, and there is an incident from nursing school that both women recall at several points in the story, but it is not very developed and probably should have had more attention given to it to merit its inclusion. But these are small issues when compared to the transporting, riveting, and extremely emotional quality of this story.

I know my little rambling review here is not doing this book justice, proving my point that it's hard to put thoughts into words after being emotionally pulverized by a story I will not forget, but if you are a fan of historical fiction or women's fiction, if you're interested in a side of World War II that is not given nearly as much attention it deserves, if you want to lose yourself in a gritty, heartbreaking, yet ultimately uplifting story, The Fire by Night is a must read for you.

[Brynna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely inspiring. Messineo captures so many incredible aspects of nursing, and I imagine does justice to the war-front. I can't wait to buy this book when it is finally released!

[Guylou (Two Dogs and a Book) · Rating 5 out of 5]

As Canada is remembering the battle at Vimy Ridge which happened 100 years ago, I have been reading more historical novels. This one is 5+ star book!!! This story is filled with emotions and pulls at the strings of your heart in an expected way. This is the story of two American nurse friends who both served in the WW2. One was sent to the Pacific war; the other to the war in Europe. Their stories will touch you and most likely move you. When I think of war nurses, I think of the old war movies which show them in a safe hospital far from the enemy lines, wearing impeccable uniforms and all looking like Paulette Goddard in "So Proudly We Hail!". This is not this kind of story. This is raw writing which shows fear, pain and loss. The book ends on a positive note without forgetting what happened to these two extraordinary women. I recommend it fully!

[Zoe · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Stars!

Incredibly moving, hauntingly realistic and exceptionally captivating!

This is an impactful story that is told from two different perspectives. Jo, an American nurse whose compassion and strength are tested near the front lines of the western front. And Kay, Jo's friend and fellow nurse who must endure horrific conditions and extreme brutality after being taken as a POW by the Japanese in the Pacific.

This is story about war, strength, bravery, hope, loss, injustice, love, and survival.

The prose is poetic. The imagery is remarkably descriptive. The characters are young, dedicated, damaged and disheartened. And the plot uses alternating points-of-view, and a back-and-forth style to give depth and understanding to all the personalities, relationships, and situations within it.

Overall, I would have to say I found this story to be profound and heartbreaking and a real reminder of just how indomitable the human spirit can truly be.

Thank you to Edelweiss, especially William Morrow, for providing me with a copy in exchange for an honest review.

All my reviews can be found on my blog at http://whatsbetterthanbooks.com

[Mainlinebooker · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a story of war without sugar coating, covered in blemishes and warts. Two different nurses who had become friends in nursing school eagerly sign up to use their skills in WWII. However, real war turned out to be different than their expectations. Jo McMahon is sent to France while Kay Elliot ended up in the city of Manila, Philippines. Jo tries to minister to her bedraggled, starving patients in a poorly stocked tent while the Germans are advancing closer and closer. Kay is stuck in a Japanese POW camp where atrocities field her every day life. Prodigiously researched with such emotional power I lost myself into their interior lives. Perhaps being a former nurse, it swept me with incredible force. One of the stories left me short during the conclusion of this novel, but that doesn't stop me from heartily recommending this book for those who don't mind the nitty gritty of war.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

WWII. Two young women graduate nursing school and sign up to assist the war effort. Though they hope to be placed in the same unit, one is sent to the Western Front and one to the South Pacific.

They keep in contact by letter as long as they are able. As their stories unfold, the horrors of war come closer, caring for the injured becomes next to impossible and their own lives are put in danger. The strength of these women, as they tap into reserves they didn't know they possessed, will cause you to look at another side of these wartime Angels of Mercy.

A realistic look at conflict behind-the-scenes, and the effects of war that linger after the peace is signed. I finished this haunting debut novel hoping for more by this talented author.

I read this EARC courtesy of Edelweiss and Harper Collins. Pub date: 01/17/17