Customer Reviews
A different outlook to many World war II true stories - By: R. Taylor, 20 Apr 2006 
'Dearest Ones' is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who enjoys reading about the war years. It is a very matter of fact, down to earth account with no heroics, no soppy romance & alll in alll an easy read.
It did however, give an incite into the American perspective of a war that unless they were sent to fight in it, didn't reallly have much affect on their daily life as it did for so many countries in the full midst of such a terrible war. Rosemary admits this fact frequently.
At times I felt quite annoyed with Rosemary,moaning about British food, swanning around in half decent clothes & tights, being sent fancy parcels at xmas with luxuries that couldn't even be seen in Britain during those times. I felt sometimes she was a little insensitve considering that many British people were going short of food/adequate clothing well before the Americans became involved. But at the time of writing she was young & naive so I'll let her off.
Her narrative of her time working at Dachau was very poignant & she didn't need to say much for the reader to understand how difficult it was to be there & witness the atrocities first hand.
As for romance, it wasn't reallly what I would calll a 'love' story as such.But she met her future husband & fell in love as I'm sure many did at that time & they've stayed together. He was quite a nice looking man too.
A very interesting book!
Much more than a love story - By: , 22 Nov 2004 Norwalk's book is much more than a love story. You first encounter Rose as a young girl who joins the Red Cross as a big adventure. She is (let's face it) a bit spoilt, loves her new uniform & writes home about doing her hair in Washington DC. When you turn the last page, you leave a strong, independent woman who has found love (and yes, he IS an attractive officer), but that just a beautiful coda to a story of self-sacrifice, hard work & personal development in WWII Europe. Rose's story is timeless, universal, & is told with refreshing originality -an interesting mixture of letters home & journal entries where you can see what she chooses to tell & what she chooses to keep for herself. I recommend it to anyone, even if you're not interested in WWII as such.
a warm look back at WWII - By: , 03 Sep 2002 
This is a warm & poignant real life adventure of an American girl who left her California home to become a Red Cross volunteer in WWII. Her letters home tell a vivid story of war time adventure, excitement & sorrow as she matures. Highly recommended!
