Pam Webber – Life Dust
In Life Dust, Pam Webber invites us into the lives of Nettie and her fiancé, Andy. She\’s an emergency room nursing intern; he\’s a soldier deployed to South Vietnam in 1971 during the United States\’ involvement in the Vietnam War. The nature of their individual work alone draws readers who appreciate the service of these stressful humanitarian occupations.
Pam Webber tells their stories separately and together with word painting, an intentional usage of precise words and phrases to evoke particular emotions. Filled with suspense, romance, angst, and compassion, Life Dust delivers an outpouring of thoughts and feelings in Pam Webber\’s historical fiction novel.
Nettie and Andy, soulmates since childhood, are blissfully planning their wedding when the war separates them. Always worried about Andy, Nettie relentlessly devotes herself to hospital duties and patients to take her mind off Andy\’s dangerous situation. However, fear and frustration increase after she witnesses a nursing supervisor and surgeon having a lover\’s tryst in the hospital. Then she becomes the supervisor\’s prey, threatening her burgeoning career. Nettie\’s only respite is Mr. Pepper, an elderly patient with everything money can buy except the one thing he wants.
Andy, promoted to lieutenant, assumes greater responsibilities. In Southeast Asia, he\’s leading a long-range reconnaissance squad in an unforgiving jungle when he receives orders to escort a high-ranking female freedom fighter, Bien, to a clandestine meeting with an enemy officer who wants to defect. Along with Bien, who\’d previously been raped and beaten by North Vietnamese soldiers, Andy travels with interpreters, believing his unit elsewhere is walking into a trap.
One of Andy\’s interpreters is Quy Tran. Pam Webber introduces him in a conversation between Andy and his platoon sergeant with the story\’s title, Life Dust:
\”What can you tell about Quy?\” Andy asked.
\”He\’s young, smart, and hardworking. He blends in well and knows how to get close enough to hear things without getting caught. I\’ve worked with him before. He\’s a good man.\”
\”How did he learn English well enough to become an interpreter?\”
\”Quy is what Asians call \’life dust\’ or one who is left behind. He\’s the son of a French soldier and a South Vietnamese woman. Neither wanted him, so he ended up in a missionary orphanage, which is where he learned to speak and read English.\”
The phrase \”life dust\” evolved to include people who are disrespected and considered outcasts. Even Nettie\’s wealthy and lonely patient fits the description.
Like too many young people, Nettie and Andy, catapulted into the harsh side of adulthood, must learn to cope and survive. In Life Dust, readers encourage and support them as they try to find their way back to each other.
Life Dust is the third novel of Pam Webber\’s trilogy; however, enjoyed as a standalone and complete story. After reading Life Dust, readers and reviewers who had not read the first two books commented on their interest in Nettie and Andy\’s backstory in The Wiregrass and Moon Water. All were published by She Writes Press.
An award-winning author, Pam Webber\’s bio is on her website. Her impressive credentials include nursing educator, family nurse practitioner, and a Ph.D. Her husband, Jeff, served in Vietnam. In all of her novels, she pulled from her family, extended family, community friends, and events. Preserving history and legacy inspires Pam Webber to create through her storytelling.
Are you a book club member? Pam enjoys talking with readers and book clubs from all over the world! She welcomes your inquiries.
Pam Webber\’s first feature on Postcards & Authors can be seen and read HERE.
Thank you, Pam, for the Vietnam Women\’s Memorial postcard! For anyone visiting the National Mall in Washington, D.C., this fifteen feet tall, bronze structure is a heartwarming representation of women who served in the Vietnam War. Many of them were nurses.
~Anita~
Pam Webber\’s postcard message says:
What would make you want to read a story about a young nurse trying to survive the ugly inner workings of a busy emergency department while her soulmate is trying to survive the jungles of Vietnam? Or, for that matter, what makes us want to read anything? Perhaps it is something called word painting. Check it out in Life Dust!
Cheers!
Pam Webber
