Upon the Mountains by Gale Sears

"World War I is raging in Europe. As America is drawn into the bitter conflict, Nephi Erickson comes to believe enlisting with the Marines is not only his duty, but also his best chance at making some much-needed money. He feels he has failed in his promise to care for his wife, Alaina, and their small daughter, Katie. As he leaves their tranquil Salt Lake City hillside home for a barren battlefield where disease can be as deadly as the enemy, Nephi has no idea that Alaina is carrying their second child--a child he may never see.

"With her husband half a world away, Alaina derives some solace from the fact that her younger sister, Eleanor, lives nearby. Nineteen-year-old Eleanor--the only woman studying medicine at the University of Utah--is soon immersed in researching treatments for the influenza pandemic ravaging the world, a scourge that will soon touch her life all too closely."

This book took me a little while to get into, as I felt there were too many characters and it jumped around a little. But I was soon caught up in the beautiful way Gale Sears uses words. The emotions she uses when she portrays war and the effects on the soldiers are powerful. I enjoyed this book and the way it made me think about the first world war on more human terms.