Very little of the novel should raise concerns about content. A world at war, when clothing and even indoor light is rationed, is an alien setting to today's American and West European teenagers. Reading about it can build an understanding that war is not all 'guts and glory,' and that different generations have had different experiences that shaped their views of life.

Some readers might object to the premarital sex in the book, but it is not explicit, it is sensitively handled, and it matter-of-factly reflects the way things were in many young women's lives during a wartime of wrenching social dislocation.

A more ambiguous issue is raised by the two older men's guilty attractions, each to one of the land girls. It is easy to interpret these as just the lust of old men. On the other hand, to both John Lawrence and Ratty...