When This Thing Is Over

Amid the chaos of WWI (When This Thing Is Over) is blended with a parallel novel (War Birds). War brings unlikely people together, living through drama and heartbreak, but leaving lasting friendships and memories. Estelle, a young volunteer nurse from San Francisco meets a gifted but alcoholic war illustrator traveling to France. She to a French military hospital near the Belgium border and he to Paris. The horrors she sees and touches in the surgical wards both horrify and harden her. Likewise, the artist is devastated at what he sees and illustrates. The War Birds characters never meet. Grover Loening is sent to inspect an Italian bomber that will be used in a daring raid in Belgium. He is astonished to meet the aircraft’s designer, Maria-Fede, a Countess. Their adventures include action and spies. Some language but in character with time and place.