Rubies from Burma — Anne Lovett

It's July, 1941, in a dusty Georgia farming town, and talk of war is in the air. Plucky Mae Lee Willis, almost eight, knows there's more to life than her distracted parents tell her, and she's determined to find out. Her sixteen-year old sister Ava, beautiful and sultry, is eager to grab all that life has to offer, especially Dulany "Duke" Radford. The paratrooper son of a World War I flying ace who made good, Duke wants to prove he's not a privileged kid. He goes off to fight in Burma, spying and sabotaging behind enemy lines, even though Ava pleads with him to pull strings for a stateside job.

But when Duke comes home from the war wounded in body and spirit and marries Ava, he has no idea that Ava is hiding something from him...

Rubies from Burma takes us from the chaos caused by the "frizzledy chicken" in a middle Georgia farmyard to an elderly gem trader's hut in a steaming jungle village; from a young girl's first fumbling with a young man in a car to a mysterious old African-American woman's fortunetelling with cards. Rubies from Burma explores the many sides of beauty, as well as true and lasting love. It is also a book that explores war: the sacrifices that lovers and families must make, both for their country-- and for each other.