As World War II begins, the Cooper family is thrust headlong into the fray, where they must face the ultimate test of courage—from the home front to the battlefield.
“…a suspenseful saga of one family’s inspiring fight…” —Lee Jackson, author of After Dunkirk
It’s 1941. Clyde and Abigail Cooper are happy newlyweds. She’s from Seattle’s upper crust, and he’s from the wrong side of the tracks. Yet the two are deeply in love. All Clyde wants is to give Abby the life she deserves.
But his plans are dashed with the Japanese surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
However much he loves his new wife, Clyde can’t ignore his duty to serve. His cousin Shawn Cooper enlisted months before, anticipating the coming war. He regales Clyde with his experiences with a fledgling, experimental US Army unit known as the paratroopers. Soon Clyde enlists with plans for the Airborne, hoping the longer training cycle will outlast the war…
Abby is devastated to part with her new husband, and she knows she needs to find something to occupy her time. While the war has brought many new opportunities for women in the workforce, Abby stumbles into something quite exciting…and dangerous.
For Abby’s father, Victor Brooks, America’s entry into the war means profit. Brooks Industries was on the brink of collapse, but the war has changed everything. The only thing that can stop him is his own insatiable greed.
Thousands of miles away in the Philippines, Clyde’s brother Frank, a US Army soldier, fights for his life against a relentless Japanese onslaught. Ill-equipped, with no chance of resupply, Frank and his unit fight a well-trained Japanese Army on the Bataan Peninsula. After months of bloody fighting, Frank finds himself on the final Allied strongpoint remaining in the Philippines—Corregidor Island.
A Time to Serve is the first book in this epic new WWII historical fiction series, told through the eyes of the different members of the Cooper family, and following the war through its conclusion. Recommended for fans of Jeff Shaara and Ken Follett.