ABOUT:
An enthralling historical novel set during the peak of the Vietnam War and told through the rare perspective of a young woman, who traces her path to self-discovery and a “Coming of Conscience.”
On September 14, 1969, Private First Class Judy Talton celebrates her nineteenth birthday by secretly joining the campus anti-Vietnam War movement. In doing so, she jeopardizes both the army scholarship that will secure her future and her relationship with her military family. But Judy’s doubts have escalated with the travesties of the war. Who is she if she stays in the army? What is she if she leaves?
When the first date pulled in the Draft Lottery turns up as her birthday, she realizes that if she were a man, she’d have been Number One―off to Vietnam with an under-fire life expectancy of six seconds. The stakes become clear, propelling her toward a life-altering choice as fateful as that of any draftee.
Judy’s story speaks to the poignant clash of young adulthood, early feminism, and war, offering an ageless inquiry into the domestic politics of protest when the world stops making sense.
PRAISE AND RECOGNITION:
“The ebb and flow between a nineteen-year-old’s mistakes, vulnerability, and surprising moments of insight ring achingly true. The Fourteenth of September is a moving tribute to lives altered by chance. The draft lottery and its rippling effects highlight a generation that came into adulthood amid devastating uncertainty.”―Foreword Clarion Reviews, 4 our of 5 stars
“An often fresh take on the collegiate anti-war movement in small-town America.”―Kirkus Reviews
“ . . . beautifully written with compassionate and thoughtful narrative and engaging characters who play out all the angst of the era set on a Midwestern college campus when America was at its most vulnerable. Dragonette show us what we can be, both in our best and our worst.”―Windy City Reviews
“Offering a new and unique perspective of the politically divisive Vietnam War here in America, “The Fourteenth of September” is a deftly written and thoroughly absorbing read from beginning to end.”―Midwest Book Review
“It’s been said that in the anti-war movement of the 1970s, the men stormed the barricades and the women made the coffee. Rita Dragonette has written a strong-hearted and authentic novel about a naive young girl and her struggle to reconcile the dissonance between the world she sees and the world she was raised to believe in. Judy is truly a quiet hero; you won’t forget her.”―Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Two if By Sea
“Few books have taken the time―and space―to examine so thoroughly the collegiate antiwar movement in small-town America . . . The tone rang true in every line.”―VVA Books
“ . . . a moving book on this time in history from a rarely heard point of view.”―Historical Novel Society
“Rita Dragonette’s novel, The Fourteenth of September, reveals what I have known for a long while―that she is a writer of great talent and integrity who infuses this debut work with an energy and vision that lifts it far beyond the ordinary coming of age story. This is an important book, not to be missed.”―Gary D. Wilson, author of Getting Right and Sing, Ronnie Blue
AUTHOR VISITS:
Author visits with Rita Dragonette are available via NovelNetwork.com.