When I read You Know When the Men Are Gone, I was impressed with Siobhan Fallon’s writing alone. The stories could have been about anything. It was clear Fallon knew how to write a good short story.
But since her stories are about military family life, there is no doubt many readers who are part of military families will find special meaning in this debut collection. We happened to learn that a customer of Lemuria is not only part of a military family but is also acquainted with Siobhan Fallon through her son-in-law.
Donna Evans’ son-in-law became life long friends with Siobhan’s husband, Major Evans, while they were both living in Hawaii. Major Evans was actually a groomsman in her daughter’s wedding. As a wedding gift, Siobhan gave her daughter and her husband an advanced copy of You Know When The Men Are Gone.
Donna shared these thoughts with us:
“After our daughter read it she quickly handed it off to me, knowing I’d like it. We have a number of military men in our family and we are very patriotic. Our son in law Captain Lowell Goldman was deployed to Afghanistan during his courtship with our daughter (Ellie Evans Goldman). Of course, I loved getting to read these wonderful stories which also happened to teach me some things I could not have known about the intimate issues of military families.”
“Siobhan has described family life at Ft. Hood before, during and after deployment during the early 21st Century. The book is so contemporary. I don’t think it would have been written quite this way in the Viet Nam or World War II eras. The type of warfare, the roll of women in society, the use of email and telecommunications from the battle front are all current. These colorful stories include tales of love, strength, longing, worry, jealousy, anger, and forgiveness. There are acts of sisterhood among the wives, heroism and humanitarianism from the soldiers, misbehaving children who don’t fully understand their parents’ problems, and passionate love. Any American citizen would benefit from reading about the sacrifices made daily by our ‘families in uniform.'”
In the video below, Siobhan Fallon speaks candidly about her book and life on a military base.
Joe writes about selecting You Know When the Men Are Gone for our January First Editions Club selection here. Siobhan Fallon will be signing at 5:00 and reading at 5:30 on Tuesday, February 1st.
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