The Last Thing You Surrender

George Simon, a principled young Marine from an affluent white southern family, survives serious injury at Pearl Harbor. He learns that the man who lost his own life after saving him was the estranged husband of Thelma Gordy, a young black woman from Alabama. After briefly connecting with Thelma, George is sent back to the Pacific, where he is eventually taken prisoner by the Japanese. His experience of the war's horrors--both in battle and in captivity--threatens to obliterate his essential humanity. Meanwhile, Thelma finds unexpected opportunity in the shipyards feeding the war effort, while her angry, alcoholic brother is conscripted to fight Nazis for the country he despises.

Set against a backdrop of global conflict, The Last Thing You Surrender delves deep into the intimate struggles that divided communities and families in an America about to transform.