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Our Wild and Precious Lives | LitPick Book Reviews
Our Wild and Precious Lives
Our Wild and Precious Lives
Our Wild and Precious Lives
A.G. Russo
Top Choice
"Our Wild and Precious Lives deals with the big questions of Life, Death, Love and Loss set against the backdrop of World War II and the Korean Conflict...it also deals with the social upheaval in families and societies caused by war, on both sides..." Amazon ReviewIn 1960 Cold War Germany, Tom and Melly McCarron, teenage Army brats, contend with adolescence on a small American base near Bavaria, where their father, a decorated war veteran, begins a three-year tour of duty. As tensions in Berlin rise between the Allies and the Soviets, and threaten to bring about World War III, the base teenagers forge bonds of loyalty and love stronger than any of the adults understand.Leaving New York on a night flight to Germany, the quiet, thoughtful Tom, and feisty, emotional Melly, are apprehensive about life in a foreign land. While they will attend the American high school in Würzburg, brother and sister realize they are the only stability each has had in their young lives. They also leave behind the sole adult they came to trust, their Aunt Deeny, a librarian who introduced them long ago to a way to cope with life's ups and downs—reading and books.Confronting the overwhelming challenges of making new friends, adjusting to a foreign environment, and enrolling in yet another school, they also must endure their abusive father and moody war bride mother. But they are not fully aware of how their father's wartime experiences and sacrifices have left him scarred. Relying on their inner strength and resilience, they navigate the boundaries of military dependents—American teenagers with the same needs, yearnings and heartbreak as any of their generation.

Book Details

Genre: 

  • Historical Fiction

Age Level: 

  • Mature Young Adult
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Melly and Tom McCarron are used to moving; their father, Jim, is a veteran of World War II. But once the family is finally back together and settled in North Carolina, yet another conflict erupts--the Cold War. When Jim takes a new position in Germany, Melly and Tom are uprooted and moved to an American base, an unknown place to them where they barely know the language. They are being torn away from their Aunt Deeny, who acts as a role model and friend of theirs. However, they don’t complain due to the fear of their father’s abusiveness.

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Two teenagers, Tom and Melly, have found themselves stuck in the middle of the Cold War. What’s worse: they have to move to a country completely foreign to them and go to a new school. It does not help that they only have each other for support.

From the Publisher


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