No Place for a Wallflower, by Nathaniel Robert Winters

This is a curious little book, given to my bookstore by a local author. It's based on the letters of Iola Hitt, now a 93-year-old woman living in Napa Valley, to her family when she served as a nurse in the Army during World War II. They aren't the actual letters; the book takes the form of a dated journal based upon those letters, with some fictionalizations added in to provide context. It's a mere 97 pages, and though I started it with major hesitation, it turned into a lovely little find. The prose is a bit awkward, which is fine given its pedigree; the book makes no pretensions about being a great work of literature. It's a fresh take on a much-traveled subject. WWII seen through the eyes of a nurse, who viewed the before and after of war but not the actual act thereof, is quite interesting. I'm glad Winters brought it into the bookstore, and glad I read it.