Life Dust

Life Dust by Pam Webber 312 pages

Nettie and Andy have known each other all their lives. They have been featured in two previous novels, “The Wiregrass” (which I have not read) and “Moon Water” (which I loved). This third novel is not billed as a sequel, and it is a complete stand-alone.

In “Moon Water,” Nettie and Andy had broken up but now have reconciled and are engaged. Andy is in the Army and Nettie is a nursing intern at the local hospital. When Andy gets orders to go to Vietnam, it changes their trajectory. She drives hours to see him before he leaves.

They desperately want to get married but put the idea on hold. Their future is so scary. Will Andy come home? Will he come home whole? She drives hours to see him before he leaves. Will Nettie wait for him? What if he comes back in pieces? The novel alternates between Nettie and Andy.

Nettie is working in the ER when a cantankerous old man comes in with severe chest pains. He is a regular in the ER and the other nurses hate him. Nettie befriends him and He becomes like grandfather figure. Nettie s also grappling with the nurse’s supervisor’s bullying. Nettie walked in on Mrs. Woods and one of the surgeons in a comprising situation. Mrs. Woods goes out of her to remove Nettie from the program.

Andy’s sections take place in Vietnam. Andy has been assigned to lead a small reconnaissance up to the DMZ. They are gone for months at a time and must depend upon themselves to take care of their needs and to gather the needed information. Webber does a wonderful job capturing the horror of Vietnam. I swear I could feel the bugs crawling over me as I read. Andy’s experiences are well researched. Andy writes long letters to Nettie who cherishes each one of them

I loved this novel. There was a sentence that threw me because it references back to “Moon Water,” and that’s when I learned this novel was a continuation of Nettie and Andy’s story. It was a complete stand-alone.

I hope that Webber writes another novel about these two characters as I grew to admire and love them as they each faced their separate travails.

“Life Dust” receives 5 out of 5 stars in Julie’s world.