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Book Review of As Always, Jack: A Wartime Love Story

As Always, Jack: A Wartime Love Story
Helpful Score: 2


This engaging compilation of love letters written in the early months of 1946 by a young navy pilot named Jack Sweeney can only be described as a sweet love story that captures the personality of an intelligent and fun-loving man. Emma Sweeney, an author and literary agent, has compiled these letters as an homage to the father she never knew (Jack was killed on duty in an airplane crash in 1956, leaving four sons and his unborn daughter). The preface and afterword are a heartfelt explanation of both her need to know her father and the results of her research. Unfortunately, the book does not hold as much in the way of historical value as such works as Since You Went Away: World War II Letters from American Women on the Home Front and Miss You: The World War II Letters of Barbara Wooddall Taylor and Charles E. Taylor. Additionally, Emma's mother's letters do not survive to give us a fuller picture of this courtship. However, the memoir is charming and would be a welcome addition to larger public libraries or libraries with a large collection of wartime correspondence.
-amazon.com