Behind the Wire

In the fall of 1941 Margaret Murphy was enjoying life as a college student, surrounded by her best friends, with dreams of becoming a journalist. Then Pearl Harbor was bombed. Despite her best efforts she is forced by her overprotective parents to come back to the safety of her small hometown. 

Looking for some sort of adventure back home in western Nebraska, she takes a job at a prisoner of war camp for Italian and German prisoners. Margaret begins communicating with multiple soldiers serving in Europe and the Pacific. Whether at the prison or through the mail she watches as each soldier struggles with the horrors of war and the mental trauma that comes with battle. 

Margaret relies heavily on her two best friends as they plan for their life at the end of conflict and she ultimately, with their unwavering support, makes the decision on who, or what, comes next. 

Inspired by true events, Behind the Wire is the coming of age story of a young woman in the Midwest during World War II. This historical fiction is told in epistolary style and includes actual letters from soldiers serving around the globe that were written to the author's grandmother.