Who won the Battle of Hastings, the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Gettysburg, or Valley Forge? We drilled that in History class, remember? But did anyone every ask in history class, what about the mothers, the daughters, the sisters of those soldiers, the wives, the lovers and the ones left behind? It’s in novels that we find the “other” points of view, the stories of women’s suffering and sorrow, of patriotism, bravery, cowardice and fear by the “distaff” side of the historical duo.
And what of those dreams? Who will tell us, when it’s all over, what dreams the woman, staring at her burned out home, her dead child, or her first step to glory, dreamed when she faced her own version of the battle? For make no mistake, women fought and fight wars too, and are rarely the victors, and too often the spoils.