This was a hugely enjoyable book -- loved the "close-up" look of how the arrival of thousands of American airmen impacted a village. Turned it upside down, in fact. And how the thousands of American airmen became individuals that impacted the lives of the villagers; how the "quaint" people of the village became important to many of the airmen. The joys, the unending hardships and losses of the war all seemed so very personal in this book, and found myself really caring about these characters. This was WWII on a very personal level. Hated to see it end and I will be looking for more books by this author.