Kathy, one of four children, who as an empty nester is just discovering her mother, Peggy, secrets. Told in alternating timelines, Kathy and Peggy both are breaking barriers as women. Kathy, leaving her role as housewife to go back to work while her husband is out of a job, and Peggy, breaking barriers as a female pilot for the Airforce. I love reading historical fiction because I get to research more about the war I wouldn't know, just like WASPs. The Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASP) were a brave and dedicated group of aviators who helped the U.S. win the WWII battles in the air.

Thank you to the publisher, and Netgalley, for an early copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

This novel has family, illness, friendship, guts, determination and hope.

It is a World War ll historical fiction story that alternates with the present day between a mother and her daughter.
Kathy has always felt that her mother, Peggy, was not content with who Kathy was both as a child and now as an adult.
She could not understand why and always tried.
Peggy has always had secrets and it isn't until she can no longer live alone and an invitation is found by Kathy, that the "ghosts" start to emerge.
Slowly-it begins to make sense as her family learns of Peggy's past life.
She was a member of the WASP group and was a pilot during World War ll.

There is so much more, but I will leave it there for you to discover as you open the pages of the book.
If you enjoy historical fiction and women's fiction, you are in for a treat!

Thank you to NetGalley and #WilliamMorrow for this ARC and allowing me to provide my review.

Kathy is an empty-nester. Her laid-off husband, Neil, isn’t delighted she’s gone back to work as a nurse, something she set aside while rearing her children. When Kathy’s mother, the spiteful, negative Peggy, can no longer live by herself, Neil and Kathy invite her to come live with them. The story is told from two points of view: that of Kathy, an under-appreciated wife and mother, and of Peggy, a member of the Women’s Air Service Pilots in her youth. When an invitation arrives in the mail for Peggy to come to Washington DC and receive an honorary service medal with the other surviving pilots, her secret is out. Because surprisingly, she has never told her family about this stellar accomplishment, due to bitterness over how the program ended. Their individual arcs are that Peggy needs to come to terms with how she’s burdened her daughter with a certain expectation – no spoilers here – and Kathy needs to develop confidence in herself. This is a story of mothers and daughters, long-time marriages, feminist angst, and the history of the WASP.

I wanted to love this book, because of the WASP program, and the older main characters (we don't see enough stories about this group, and they're so interesting!) But unfortunately, there was a bit too much info dumping about both the WASP program and the unfairness of sexism. Which is totally legitimate! Just overdone in this work.