First published 1983
Corporal Smithers returns from military service carrying wounds that go deeper than flesh. The war has ended, but for Smithers, the battle continues in quiet moments when memories surface without warning. He struggles to reconnect with a world that moved forward while he was away, finding that civilian life demands a different kind of courage than combat ever did. Friends and family see him as the same person who left, but Smithers knows better. The uniform is gone, but something essential died overseas, leaving him to navigate between who he was and who he might become. Jack S. Scott explores the invisible casualties of military service, showing how some soldiers fight their longest battles after coming home. This is a story about survival, identity, and the price of service that extends far beyond the battlefield.
Genres: fiction, american-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: coming-of-age, fish-out-of-water
171 pages · Hardcover · St. Martin's Press
Content warnings: mental-illness