THE LONG BLUE SHADOW

A military marriage evolves with the times in Shreve’s historical novel, the first in a series.

Baltimore, 1920: The Great War is over and the Jazz Age has begun, but Arthur Shreve, a young veteran who flew military transport planes in France, hasn’t quite re-adjusted to civilian life. He decides to re-enlist in the Army, this time as an officer. Leaving his distraught mother and siblings behind, Arthur takes a commission as a second lieutenant in the field artillery and heads off to Honolulu. As a “mustang”—an officer risen from the lower ranks—he’s at a slight disadvantage compared to those who graduated from West Point, though he manages to impress his commanding officer, Gen. Joseph Kuhn. After a year on the island, he meets 18-year-old Julia McCoy, a colonel’s niece visiting Oahu from Virginia, at a polo game. The two feel an immediate attraction to one another: “When Arthur grasped her hand, she began to quake. He steadied her with a firm squeeze, and like an open window or lifted curtain, he saw something in her unfurl.” Despite their differences—Julia is far less inhibited than Arthur—she leaves Smith College for the life of an officer’s wife. That life will take them away from the romance of Hawaii, however, and the tensions of relocation, career advancement, raising children, and the evolving mores of the 1920s and ’30s will put their partnership to the test. The novel is based on the lives of the author’s grandparents, and though she casts them in a slightly romanticized light, she does not shy away from delving into their sexual lives. The writing throughout is lush, though it sometimes feels too self-aware of its moment in history: “Occasionally, [Arthur] tore his eyes away to catch glimpses of Hawaii, full of visual delights and carefree joie de vivre not unlike 1921 itself.” (Does anyone ever consciously think that way about the year they are living in?) Even so, those looking for a Jazz Age love story will find much here to enjoy.

An immersive historical romance.