The Lieutenant’s Nurse

In this appealing novel, Ackerman (Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers) unites a military nurse and a military intelligence officer in the days preceding and during the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. In late November 1941, Eva Cassidy has left Michigan to sail on the luxurious ship, the Lurline, to Hawaii, to start a new position in the Army Nurse Corps. While onboard, she meets Lt. Clark Spencer, a Navy linguist who works in communications and has studied Japanese. Eva is drawn to Clark’s quiet strength and caring nature even though her boyfriend, Billy, is stationed at Pearl Harbor. Clark starts to let his guard down and cares for Eva in a way he hasn’t cared for a woman since the death of his wife, but Eva reveals that she has a boyfriend, ending their budding relationship. Yet nothing prepares Eva for the devastation of the attack on Pearl Harbor as she and her fellow nurses work round the clock to save as many wounded as possible. When Clark turns up among the wounded, Eva begins to consider whether their shipboard romance was more solid than her fleeting long-distance relationship with Billy. Ackerman’s winning historical novel is fast-paced and rife with nonstop action, romance, and suspense. (Mar.)