Home Front

Michael Zarkades, the novel’s secondary protagonist and Jolene’s husband, is a 45-year-old lawyer with wavy black hair, dark eyes, and a square jaw. He is attractive and gets people’s attention, which allows him to thrive in the courtroom. Michael shared a legal partnership with his father, who died 11 months before the novel begins. This loss deeply affects Michael, who grieves for his father but does not handle that grief well. Instead of talking about his feelings and loss, he blames Jolene’s sense of control and optimism. Michael was once idealistic, but that “idealism, once so shiny and bright, had been dulled by years of defending the guilty” (12), leaving him cynical, bitter, and unable to handle emotion or stress well. While he loves his wife and daughters, he detaches himself from them, often staying as late as possible at his office in downtown Seattle.

Michael’s character is a foil to Jolene’s. Michael lacks her positive outlook on life, especially following his father’s death, and he feels he cannot live up to her expectations and demands. He also resents Jolene’s strength, feeling that her “turbulent, ugly childhood had left her impatient with people who couldn’t choose to be happy. Lately, it got on his nerves, all her buoyant it-will-get-better platitudes” (13). While Jolene loves the life she and Michael have created, Michael wishes he were a different person living a different life. He does not devote himself to his family as Jolene does, and he becomes angry when he must fill Jolene’s role when she goes to Iraq. This internal and external conflict collides just before Jolene leaves, causing him to tell her he no longer loves her. This selfish act symbolizes how deeply Michael struggles with his grief and how he responds angrily toward his wife instead of healthily dealing with his emotions.

Despite Michael’s weaknesses, he undergoes the most marked changes of any character in the novel. One significant change in Michael is his attitude toward the military and the Iraq War. At the novel’s beginning, Michael thinks the Iraq War is a preposterous waste of money and military resources. He also disregards Jolene’s military career and never wants to hear anything about her experiences serving in the National Guard. By working on Keith Keller’s case, however, Michael learns the value of being in a military family and comes to admire Jolene’s strength and ability as a pilot. Another change Michael makes is putting his wife and family before himself. He becomes and remains a very involved father and a deeply devoted husband after Jolene’s deployment. Michael begins to love and nurture Betsy and Lulu as Jolene does, and he learns that his response to Jolene’s career and deployment is selfish and unfair. Thus, by the novel’s end, Michael is a much more caring man who views his role in his family as important and worthy of his time and effort. He loves his work as a lawyer—and is very successful in his practice—yet he learns that his role as a father and husband is even more important.

Tami Flynn is Jolene’s neighbor, fellow pilot, and best friend. She has long, black hair and is of Native American heritage. She is “the sister Jolene never had. They’d been teenagers when they met—a pair of eighteen-year-old girls who had joined the army because they didn’t know what else to do with their lives” (9). Both women then qualified for a pilot training program, which they entered together after high school. They then served in the Army together for 10 years before moving to the Army National Guard to spend more time with their families and to raise their children. They were even pregnant together.

Hannah uses Tami as a guide and support for Jolene through the most difficult times in her life. Tami supported Jolene after her parents’ death and the arduous process of becoming a female helicopter pilot. She supports Jolene in motherhood and marriage, especially when Michael withdraws emotionally. In Iraq, the two women lean on each other heavily to make it through such a dangerous and difficult situation. Tami advises Jolene to reach out to Michael despite him not having communicated with her. She also keeps Jolene grounded and centered on their work instead of worrying about her daughters at home. Tami often tells Jolene she’s got her “six,” symbolizing that Tami will always have her friend’s back. She proves this both in life and death.

In the helicopter crash, Tami suffers a severe head wound that causes her to go into a coma. Tami never wakes from this coma, but she does not stop being a symbol of support and guidance to Jolene. When Jolene returns home to Seattle, Tami stays in Germany until her death. Jolene uses her friend as a reason to get better and do better for her family. Though Tami’s death throws Jolene into an even deeper depression, Tami still acts as a guide to help Jolene make a full recovery. Jolene often hears or sees Tami, continuously inspiring Jolene to keep going out of honor and duty to her friend. Thus, Tami’s character plays a significant role in Jolene’s development and recovery.

Betsy Zarkades, Jolene and Michael’s eldest daughter, is 12. She has blond, curly hair, porcelain skin, and brown eyes. Betsy desperately wants to fit in with the other kids at school, as their approval gives her the self-confidence she inherently lacks. However, her desire to fit in creates conflict in her family because much of what they do causes her great embarrassment, which causes her to react in anger. For example, Betsy is embarrassed by Jolene’s military career. Kids at school make fun of Betsy for having a helicopter pilot for a mom, which makes Betsy resent Jolene and her career. This resentment explodes when Jolene deploys to Iraq, a concept too advanced for a 12-year-old to understand and sympathize with. Much of the novel covers Betsy’s growth and development from childhood to adolescence as she strengthens her relationship with her family, especially Jolene.

Lulu Zarkades, Jolene and Michael’s youngest daughter, is four and has long, black hair. She turns five during Jolene’s deployment and must learn to navigate important milestones—such as beginning kindergarten—without her mother. Lulu is too young to understand the many layers of conflict occurring within her family, yet she can read the emotional environment and respond accordingly. For example, she learns to love and rely on Michael when Jolene goes to Iraq. Previously, Lulu looked to Jolene for everything because Michael was not a present father. When her mother returns from war so different, Lulu knows something is wrong but cannot understand what. Instead, Lulu looks to Michael for comfort and reassurance. Like Betsy, Jolene heals her relationship with Lulu by the novel’s end.