Two Wars and a Wedding
Set during the Greco-Turkish War of 1897 and the Spanish-American War of 1898, Two Wars and a Wedding is the story of Betsy Hayes, a young woman who sets out to break the glass ceiling in archeology but becomes known as the “Angel of the Seneca” for her nursing endeavors aboard a ship carrying wounded soldiers from Cuba to New York.
Willig tells Betsy’s story in a dual timeline, alternating between her time in Greece and Cuba, and so we meet two very different Betsys along the way. The younger Betsy is clever but flighty; when we see her a year later, she’s much more sober, determined, and full of regrets. Readers who enjoy seeing a main character change as dramatic events unfold will be well-satisfied with Betsy’s evolution, and eagerly turn the pages to find out just what happened in Greece, and why a year later she’s on a boat to Cuba with Clara Barton and the American Red Cross.
There’s a delicate balance expertly struck here between the emotional, character-driven aspects of Betsy’s life, and many excellent descriptions of front-line nursing, historical events, and people. An engaging historical afterword explains the decisions Willig made to blend two real-life heroines into Betsy’s character and provides avenues for further reading. Anyone seeking to have their eyes opened to a lesser-known period of history while enjoying a solid, character-driven page-turner shouldn’t hesitate to grab a copy of this one. I can’t say enough good things about it.