Haunting, devastating, hypnotic: These are

words that describe Terry Farish s new novel,

Flower Shadows. Other writers have docu-

mented the horror of Vietnam; others have

depicted its scale and legacy Few however,

have also realized tile psychological com-

plexity of" youth s abrupt conclusion during

war or been as intimate in detailing a loss of"

innocence. And now, for the first time in

fiction, Flower Shadows tells the story of.

women in combat zones.

Diana was nineteen years old when she

was shipped overseas with the Red Cross.

What she saw was a strange country of

orange suns, terrible heat, boys grown old

before their time. And soon she discovered

more. Vietnam was a place of opposition:

Vietnamese against Vietnamese, GI against

GI, man against woman.

There were four American girls in the Chu

Chi unit who got on board choppers and

brought programs of decency and hope to

soldiers who hardly ever saw a base camp. It

was 1969, and they were there along with GIs

fighting a lost war, desperately counting the

days until their escape. Of the women,, one

died in war and three live today-one fell in

love and all remained bound in camaraderie.

"[ have drained already and broken the

cup of spring. Flower shadows lie heavy on

the translucent curtains? Now, Terry Far shs

masterful novel depicts women in war,

women who were told to be ever-vigilant

and yet remain as they were. In Vietnam,

however, everyone changed. Nobody got off

without paying