The Soldier's Wife by Joanna Trollope

Alexa Riley is home, alone, waiting.  Today is the day Dan returns home from his military tour in Afghanistan; six months away from home, the marriage, the children, everyday life.  How will it go?  The books all say there will be a period of adjustment, but that doesn't apply to them and their storybook marriage.  Does it?

But once Dan is home, things are different.  Alexa has changed and so has Dan and there are many other factors to consider.  Alexa is offered a great job, but one she knows she cannot accept since Dan could get orders to move them any time.  Their oldest daughter is desperately miserable at boarding school.  Their parents are worried, as are their friends.  One of their oldest military friends' marriage seems to be totally falling apart.  Dan and Alexa are talking at each other, not to each other, and the strain and distance grows daily.  Can they find their way back to each other before all is lost?

Joanna Trollope has written a convincing book about the rigors of military life and how it affects not only the soldier but all of their family and friends as well.  She outlines the routines of military life, the commitment that can leave families feeling like a second choice, the demands it places on the soldier.  Some can handle it, some cannot, but all must carefully find their way through the debris of everyday life to a place where family is primary.  This book is recommended for readers interested in current family relationships and how they go awry and can be healed.