Triage, by Elisa M. Speranza

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Book cover of 'Triage: A Novel' by Elisa M. Speranza, featuring an illustration of two women in military uniforms smiling, standing in front of a military vehicle with a star symbol, framed by tropical trees, a flowering plant, and a bird perched on a branch.

Cover art: Jon Langford | Book design: Kim Leaird

When the ghosts of war won’t stay buried, a former Army nurse must find a way to heal—or risk losing everything. 

In 1951 New Orleans, Laura Marino works as a nurse at Charity Hospital. She’s been home from World War II for six years, but peacetime has brought its own challenges. She’s frustrated at work, and her childless marriage to Nicholas, a surgeon she met in the Army, is strained. 

Laura is devastated when news arrives that Frances, her best friend from the front, has taken her own life. Turning to the wartime journal she has kept hidden away, Laura is plunged back into memories of the bonds forged amid chaos on the front lines of North Africa, during the siege of Anzio, and at a refugee camp in Italy. 

While her husband takes on an overseas assignment, Laura wrestles with her grief and guilt over Frances’ death. Then she meets Boyer, a wounded veteran who shares her pain. Their connection is intense—and dangerous, threatening to upend her life entirely. 

Triage is an intimate portrait of a woman’s hard-won journey through love, loss, and a quest for redemption.

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Praise for Triage

“Elisa Speranza has written a fascinating, gripping, and profoundly moving novel that takes its place in the pantheon of the literature of war. Of course, it is about so much more.” --LUIS ALBERTO URREA, author of Good Night, Irene

“Elisa Speranza is back with this intimate tale of one woman's struggle to reckon with her time as a combat nurse during WWII. Triage places readers in the middle of the action and depicts the courageous work done by an unsung generation of women. In this brilliantly written book, Speranza asks whether deep wounds can ever truly heal. Fast-paced and full of unforgettable characters, readers will want to share Triage with their book clubs.” --MAURICE CARLOS RUFFIN, author of The American Daughters

"A novel that made me feel the weight of grief, and the quiet miracle of finding your way back. Unflinching, intimate, and deeply human — Triage is a novel that stays with you." --MARTHA HALL KELLY, author of Lilac Girls and The Martha’s Vineyard Beach and Book Club

“Speranza delivers what only the best historical fiction can: a story that immerses us in the specifics of an exceptional era while remaining just as relevant to our own. At once visceral and finely crafted, Triage pulls us in from page one and doesn’t let go.” --ALLISON ALSUP, author of Foreign Seed; Creative Director, New Orleans Writers Workshop

“If you think war ends when the shooting stops, Triage will remind you what lingers. Unflinching, compassionate, and utterly absorbing, Elisa M. Speranza writes with a field medic's clarity and a storyteller’s nerve. --GREG COPE WHITE, author of The Pink Marine

Triage gives us a moment-by-moment perspective of the men and women forced to make the life and death decisions of battlefield triage and the rare perspective of the soul-wrenching after effects they suffer. It is a beautifully told story of love and survival during and in the aftermath of war.” --RON CAPPS, author of Seriously Not All Right: Five Wars in Ten Years and Founder, The Veterans Writing Project

“Elisa Speranza's beautiful and heart-rending story shows us the complex lives of those nurses who fought with astonishing technical skill for the survival of their patients as the battle raged around them and then helped to reconstruct their lives beyond survival in war's aftermath.”  --DR. EMILY MAYHEW, historian and author of Wounded: The Long Journey Home

Media Kit for Triage

For additional information, please contact the author at elisamariesperanza@gmail.com.

Title: Triage

Release date: May 12, 2026

Page count: 280

ISBNs: Paperback 979-8-9944991-1-5 , Ebook 979-8-9944991-2-2, Hardcover 979-8-9944991-0-8

Language: English

Publisher: Burgundy Bend Press

Human Authored Reg #: 8792807, https://authorsguild.org/human

Playlist

For a playlist of songs in Triage, access the Triage Playlist on Apple Music here or on YouTube here, courtesy of Nanci Zee (explore her music while you’re there).

Here’s a list of the songs:

  1. Teardrops from My Eyes, Ruth Brown

  2. Right from Wrong, Fats Domino

  3. Smiley Lewis, Tee-Nah-Nah

  4. Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Etta James

  5. Chattanooga Choo-Choo, Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

  6. Sentimental Journey, Ella Fitzgerald

  7. We’ll Meet Again, Vera Lynn

  8. Rocket 88, Jackie Brenston & His Delta Cats

  9. How High the Moon, Mary Ford & Les Paul

  10. Petite Fleur, Sidney Bechet

  11. Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree, Andrews Sisters

  12. Basin Street Blues, Louis Armstrong & His Hot Five

  13. Because of You, Tony Bennet

  14. Victory Polka, Andrews Sisters

  15. In the Mood, Glenn Miller & His Orchestra

  16. Happy Days are Here Again, Ben Selvin & His Orchestra

  17. Sing, Sing, Sing, Louis Prima

Research References for Triage

If you’re interested in the true stories behind Triage, click here for access to a Google Sheet with references—I call it my “nerd appendix.”