4.0
Daybreak
ByPublisher Description
In this “vital novel that arrives at a perilous time” (Elliot Ackerman, New York Times bestselling author), a disillusioned American veteran volunteers for the war in Ukraine to reconnect with a woman from his past.
Thirty-three-year-old Luke “Pax” Paxton has been out of the military for almost a decade, adrift in an America he no longer understands, haunted by a mistake made in an unforgiving moment of combat. When an old army friend suggests they travel to Ukraine to help fight against the Russian invasion, he agrees, and together they cross an ocean to Lviv, the City of Lions. But Pax isn’t merely going out of the goodness of his heart. He carries with him the address of a former love, a Ukrainian woman named Svitlana whom he had known as a young soldier and has been unable to forget.
His feverish journey through Lviv takes him down winding and missile-cratered streets as he forms surprising connections with everyone from humanitarian volunteers to displaced Ukrainians and ordinary citizens trying to survive. And when Pax gets the chance to save someone dear to Svitlana, he just might be able to correct the wrongs that have wracked him with guilt for so many years.
Inspired by the author’s time in Ukraine, “Matt Gallagher has written the first great military-inspired novel of this post-Global War on Terror era” (Bill McCloud, author of What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?).
Thirty-three-year-old Luke “Pax” Paxton has been out of the military for almost a decade, adrift in an America he no longer understands, haunted by a mistake made in an unforgiving moment of combat. When an old army friend suggests they travel to Ukraine to help fight against the Russian invasion, he agrees, and together they cross an ocean to Lviv, the City of Lions. But Pax isn’t merely going out of the goodness of his heart. He carries with him the address of a former love, a Ukrainian woman named Svitlana whom he had known as a young soldier and has been unable to forget.
His feverish journey through Lviv takes him down winding and missile-cratered streets as he forms surprising connections with everyone from humanitarian volunteers to displaced Ukrainians and ordinary citizens trying to survive. And when Pax gets the chance to save someone dear to Svitlana, he just might be able to correct the wrongs that have wracked him with guilt for so many years.
Inspired by the author’s time in Ukraine, “Matt Gallagher has written the first great military-inspired novel of this post-Global War on Terror era” (Bill McCloud, author of What Should We Tell Our Children About Vietnam?).
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesDaybreak Reviews
4.0
“I found this book very thrilling and leaving me on the edge of my seat. From the start of the book to the end it is full of action and drama. These are the types of books that really help capture real world problems. An eye opening book for many people could help shape the way others think when it’s not on our own home turf. Truly brilliantly written.”
“Wow. This was a quick read, got it done in one afternoon. It almost reads more like a novella, very interesting characters, but not much development. I found myself wanting more background and history, especially on Luke. And, the mental health aspect could have been developed. Just a fact check, duloxetine is an antidepressant, it doesn't have an immediate effect, so taking more wouldn't do anything in the moment. However, I work in mental health, so these details stick out to me.
I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway.”
About Matt Gallagher
Matt Gallagher is a US Army veteran and the author of four books, including the novels Youngblood and Daybreak. His work has appeared in Esquire, ESPN, The New York Times, The Paris Review, and Wired, among other places. A graduate of Wake Forest and Columbia, he is the recipient of the Tulsa Artist Fellowship, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference Fellowship, a Sewanee Writers’ Conference Fellowship, and was selected as the 2022 Hemingway-Pfeiffer Museum Writer-in-Residence. He lives with his family in Colorado.
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