Half a Century Later: Memoir of War’s Woes and Wooing 

The veteran experience is also a jumping off point for The Hardest Year: A Love Story in Letters During the Vietnam War, a just-published memoir by author-poet Carole Wagener and her husband, William Wagener, that has been called a personal snapshot of the turbulent ‘60s as framed through the hearts of two souls divided by a war that would ultimately divide a nation. In 1969, newlywed William, on active duty in South Vietnam, began exchanging more than 300 handwritten letters with Carole while she was a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a hotbed of anti-war protests. The collected intimate letters-turned-book serve to preserve both a vital piece of history and their own unique love story. The Wageners discuss the work and sign copies at Tecolote Book Shop on October 28.