Switchboard Soldiers by Jennifer Chiaverini 
Fiction

What it’s about:  To help the Allies fight World War One, General Pershing calls for telephone switchboard operators to enlist in the Army Signal Corps. We follow Grace, Marie and Valerie, each with their own motivations for joining the Signal Corps, from training in the US, overseas to war-torn France. The male soldiers they replaced had needed one minute to connect each call. The switchboard soldiers could do it in ten seconds. The danger they face is real and leaves little time for private life, but each young woman has a brush with romance along the way. 

Reviewers say: “So much new information is packed into this story that becomes the best kind of history lesson" (Library Journal); “Chiaverini's story will strike a chord with history buffs . . . An eye-opening and detailed novel about remarkable female soldiers” (Kirkus). 

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