When the Men Were Gone

This WWII home front novel, sportswriter Lewis’s debut, lacks the drama that features in the Friday night games at the story’s core. In September 1944, the denizens of tiny Brownwood, Tex., lose their high school football coach to the Army when he reenlists after finding out his brother has been taken as a POW. Tylene Wilson, the school’s assistant principal, who knows the game inside and out, worries that if the Lions don’t take the field, bored young men will enlist early in the military. Still reeling from the death of her godson in the war, Tylene believes that she can protect other boys from the horrors of the battlefield and provide the community with a welcome diversion from the war by ensuring the season goes on. When no other suitable coach can be found, Tylene predictably takes on the task, facing strong opposition from those who believe coaching isn’t women’s work. Undaunted, and backed by her husband, Tylene strives to prove her detractors wrong. The woman’s empowerment angle is inspiring (Lewis’s book is based on true events), but the story ends where football fans would want it to start, at the beginning of the playing season, leaving the story feeling incomplete. (Oct.)