Anita Shreve’s newest book titled “Stella Bain” is a very readable interesting novel. Most of the action of the story takes place between 1915 through 1917. Besides being the personal tale of a woman living in the early years of the twentieth century, this is also the story of the social mores of the time, the brutality of the First World War, and early treatment for shell shock.
Stella Bain is a volunteer nurse/ambulance driver on the front lines in France. The story of how she became a volunteer is central to the plot. What happens after she suffers from what today we call PTS syndrome is somewhat fanciful, but Shreve has woven characters into a plot that make you really want to know what happened and what will happen. This is a quick read and a good story.