regshoe

That last scene was exactly what I was thinking of--she does the job and doesn't lose her nerve, but then all the fear and stress and emotion catches up with her at the end, which, like you said, is totally understandable, considering what she's been through. She really comes across as a believable character, with her own arc and her own agency, not only just as a romantic interest, which was one of the (few) things I didn't like about FOTH, and thought this book did better.

And yeah, you are totally right about the implications about the importance of having your own children... that was very much of its time, wasn't it? (Wait until you get to "The dark mile", there's a part of the story dealing with duty/marriage that was kind of gag-worthy to me, but like you said, it could be subjective.)

But, overall, I like the sense of found family in this book. Broster writes these unexpected bonds rather nicely, and I like the idea of people who are different working together for a common goal!