Debut novelist Joshunda Sanders takes readers deep into the lesser-known Black and female U.S. military forces. Inspired by the true history of the pioneering Black women who served in the 6888th Battalion during World War II, Women of the Post tells the memorable story of four women brought together by their service. Judy Washington is tired of her day work in white women's homes on the Bronx Slave Market ("so-called slave markets for domestic workers in New York City") and yearns for a job that carries "stability and meaning." A recruiter for the Women's Army Corps (WAC) arrives in the Bronx to form a unit of Black women to serve in the U.S. military. Judy jumps at the chance to apply. In training with the WAC, she becomes fast friends with Stacy, Bernadette, and Mary Alyce. They lean into their newfound friendship while facing the sexism and racism of 1940s America--and the World War II military forces at home and abroad. The four find themselves part of the first-ever unit of Black women to be stationed abroad; "No Mail, No Morale" is their mantra as they sort through millions of pieces of lost mail between soldiers on the front lines of war and their loved ones back home.
It is a story as replete with themes of friendship, love, and self-discovery as it is war and hardship. Elevating the stories of lesser-known heroes of World War II and the ongoing struggles of Black women for acceptance, equality, and equity, Women of the Post is a significant work of historical fiction not to be missed by fans of the genre. --Kerry McHugh, freelance reviewer