Doreen Woods is many things: a successful dentist who donates time and skills to the needy, a loving wife and mother, a sister who cares for her dying brother. She has carefully built an exemplary life. But all of this is threatened when a comrade from the seventies shows up. Over the next week Doreen's past rushes in as she is forced to admit to her family and herself the actions that caused her to change her name and identity three decades earlier.
In 1970 she was impressionable and idealistic Lucy Johansson. When her brother, Adam, came home from Vietnam damaged and bitter, they moved to California, where she raged against the war and the Establishment with many others of her generation. She joined an antiwar group and participated in increasingly militant protests designed to bring attention to their cause and to change the world for the better. But all the best intentions and careful planning couldn't keep things from going terribly wrong.
Told from a twenty-first-century perspective, She Was spans the width of the American continent and the depth of social upheaval of the second half of the twentieth century. She Was explores the violent, determining act in one woman's life that mirrors the formative trauma of her age. She Was is a story about the indelible nature of the past, about hiding in the ordinary, and, ultimately, about making amends.
“Hallowell writes with great compassion about the heart of the heart of our country and of our culture… It is one of the best novels I have read in years.”
—John Nichols author of The Milagro Beanfield War
“(She Was)… with its numerous hot-button issues (i.e., criminal justice, the nature of terrorism, governmental accountability, racial profiling, gays in the military) offers you plenty to think about without telling you what to think. I loved the openness in the book. It's a speedy read that, nevertheless, got under my skin, and it would be a great book to read as a group.”
—Feminist Review
“SHE WAS is a great book --- written with restrained intensity and emotional vibrancy, with a respect for the past and a thinly-but-nicely veiled warning to all of us that the past is always with us and the future is nothing without it.”
—Jana Siciliano, Bookreporter.com
“Hallowell deftly sets up one deeply flawed character against an ever-changing backdrop of American history, and through it, prods the reader to examine the ephemeral ideas of identity and responsibility.”
—Amy Brozio Andrews, InTheFray
“Hallowell's text is razor sharp… few writers could match her depiction of Adam's battle with multiple sclerosis.”
—Christian Toto, The Denver Post
“Readers will find this book's themes relevant in a post-9/11 world. The consequences of the Vietnam War are remembered here in a way that provides subtle, and sometimes overt, insight into modern political tensions.”
—Rocky Mountain News
“With appealingly flawed characters and an engaging dialog that builds suspense throughout She Was, Hallowell probes a universal conscience in this poignant, no-frills account of a life undone.”
—5280 magazine
“Hallowell’s writing is clear, strong, and empathetic…. She tackles some of the most important issues of our time like the legacy of war in America and the ultimate question of responsibility of our actions.”
—Vail Daily
“Editor’s Pick”
—The Boulder Daily Camera
“Recommended for all public libraries”
—Library Journal
“This is an excellent novel. I highly recommend this book for its insights and humanity.”
—Jo Manning, WritersOnWriting.com
“She Was is gripping, deep, relevant and extremely rich as a cultural document that elaborates and brings new light on some of the critical issues facing people in this society in the time of Obama, war, and the monsters of our political creations. Its handling of race, and especially the work of memory is very important ... it should enter into a long life in American letters.”
—David Carrasco, professor of anthropology, Harvard University
“Timely and marvelous. She Was sheds fresh light on the lingering effects of war, on the way our past always lives with us, ready to detonate. Janis Hallowell has crafted a brave, beautiful, and ultimately life-affirming novel that reveals how deeply the personal and political intertwine."
—Gayle Brandeis, author of The Book of Dead Birds and Self Storage
"In her haunting, lyrical second novel, Janis Hallowell masterfully illustrates what happens when the heady, reckless idealism of youth goes awry. Exquisitely crafted."
—Elisabeth Hyde, author of The Abortionist's Daughter