An anti-war military child who longs for freedom. A career-Army father who can’t imagine being anything else. A long war bound to change them.

 

Fourteen-year-old Annaliese Pechman has always been a military child, but no one knows how she resents the frequent relocation or the long separations from her beloved father. After moving to Fort Drum, New York, she purchases a leather-bound journal to record her hopes and dreams under the watchful eye of her idol, Emily Dickinson. But Anna’s life changes on September 11, 2001, rinsing away her naivety and exposing the world’s harsh realities.

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Anna’s father deploys in October 2001 as part of the first conventional forces in Afghanistan, while she struggles to find her place in the constant change. But one thing rises above the noise—her disapproval of war and her dad’s role in it. Two months before her dad deploys yet again, Anna basks in the success of her first anti-war protest, but her father disapproves for reasons Anna can’t understand. When her father suffers a grave injury, she places her future on hold, but more than physical recovery is at stake. Anna must decide whether family bonds are enough to heal the wounds of war, or if it’s time to walk away alone.

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In the spirit of Phil Klay’s Redeployment and Siobhan Fallon’s You Know When the Men Are Gone, The Whispers of War shines a light on the experiences of military families in the aftermath of 9/11, the ones not often seen but felt by those closest to the Global War on Terror.