A Pledge of Silence - Flora J. Solomon - A Short Summary & Review
A Pledge of Silence - Flora J. Solomon - A Short Summary & Review
By: a.d. elliott | Take the Back Roads - Art and Other Odd Adventures
A Rite of Fancy Book Recommendation and Review
A short summary of the book:
A Pledge of Silence is inspired by the real experiences of the Angels of Bataan, the American nurses captured during World War II and imprisoned by Japanese forces after the fall of the Philippines. Through the lens of a fictionalized protagonist, the novel recounts what it meant to endure starvation, disease, brutality, and fear while clinging to duty and one another.
Living in conditions that can only be described as hellish, these women are forced to confront both the physical limits of survival and the long-term psychological cost of war. Their silence, kept for decades after the war, becomes as much a burden as their captivity, shaping the rest of their lives long after the fighting ends.
My favorite quote from the book:
Questions to ponder while:
My review:
This is a difficult book, and it should be. World War II was an ugly, merciless time, and A Pledge of Silence refuses to sanitize it. The suffering described here is relentless, but it serves a purpose: to honor women whose service and trauma were too often minimized or forgotten.
Although the central character is fictional, the experiences are rooted in reality. The Angels of Bataan were real, and their endurance demands recognition, not as background to male heroism, but as acts of courage in their own right.
What lingers most is the novel’s relevance beyond history. The story quietly argues that we still struggle to care adequately for returning veterans, particularly those whose wounds are invisible. Silence, once a survival mechanism, becomes a lifelong cost.
A Pledge of Silence is not an easy read, but it is an important one. It asks us to remember honestly and to do better.
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About the Author
a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller traveling through life
She shares her journeys at Take the Back Roads, explores new reads at Rite of Fancy, and highlights U.S. military biographies at Everyday Patriot.
You can also browse her online photography gallery at shop.takethebackroads.com.
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