Elizabeth’s War by D.L. Finn

My review follows Finn’s book blurb found on Amazon.

“It’s April of 1917, and World War I has reached Elizabeth’s family on their wheat farm in North Dakota. Although the battles are being fought overseas, the war has affected her in ways she couldn’t have imagined. Elizabeth is thrust into a new role after her brother and father leave the farm to do their part in the war. And she’s only eleven years old!

Having almost died as a toddler, Elizabeth has been babied most of her life. Now she must learn to help out around the farm; cooking, cleaning, and tending to the garden and livestock. No longer can she run from her responsibilities, as she did when her horse Rosie was giving birth. There were complications during the delivery, and Elizabeth panicked and froze. The foal didn’t make it.
Elizabeth faces her biggest challenge yet as a huge Christmas Eve snowstorm rages outside, cutting her family off from any help; and her mother is about to have a baby! Her brother and sister are laid up with chicken pox. Does Elizabeth face her fears or run from them? Can she help her family, who need her more now than ever? Or will she retreat like she did when Rosie needed her?”

I found this novel to be a touching and interesting read. The pace is frantic at one point when Elizabeth, at a young tender age, must care for two sick siblings, her mother in labor, one farmhand down with a bad back, and she must take care of all of them, keep warm fires going as it is winter and Christmas time, feed the animals, gather eggs, and learn how to cook. Finn has done an amazing job of bringing out the best in Elizabeth as well as the rich history and the surrounds of, and culture of the time, during World War I. In this quick read, we come to understand how society was during this traumatic time in the USA – from that perspective of a young girl. Five stars!!