People across Nebraska are encouraged to read the work of a Nebraskan —and then talk about it with their friends and neighbors. The Long March Home: A World War II Novel of the Pacific (Revell, 2023) by Marcus Brotherton and Tosca Lee is the 2025 One Book One Nebraska selection.
The Long March Home is a historical fiction novel inspired by true stories of friendship, sacrifice, and hope on the Bataan Death March.
From the Inside Cover:
Jimmy Propfield joined the army for two reasons: to get out of Mobile, Alabama, with his best friends Hank and Billy and to forget his high school sweetheart, Claire.
Life in the Philippines seems like paradise–until the morning of December 8, 1941, when news comes from Manila: Imperial Japan has bombed Pearl Harbor. Within hours, the teenage friends are plunged into war as enemy warplanes attack Luzon, beginning a battle for control of the Pacific theater that will culminate with a last stand on the Bataan Peninsula and end with the largest surrender of American troops in history.
What follows will become known as one of the worst atrocities in modern warfare: the Bataan Death March. With no hope of rescue, the three friends vow to make it back home together. But the ordeal is only the beginning of their nearly four-year fight to survive.
Marcus Brotherton is a New York Times bestselling author and coauthor, with fiveNew York Timesbestsellers, seven national bestsellers, and four books have been optioned for movies. He was born in British Columbia and earned degrees at Multnomah University in Portland and Biola University in Los Angeles. He currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with his wife and children.
Tosca Lee is the award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of twelve books. Those awards include three International Book Awards, and a Nebraska Book Award for her thriller The Line Between and its sequel A Single Light. She received her B.A. from Smith College and currently lives in Nebraska with her husband, three of four children still at home, and her 160-lb. German Shepherd, Timber.
Libraries across Nebraska will join other literary and cultural organizations in planning book discussions, activities, and events that will encourage Nebraskans to read and discuss this book. Support materials to assist with local reading/discussion activities will be available after January 1, 2025 at http://onebook.nebraska.gov. Updates and activity listings will be posted on the One Book One Nebraska Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/onebookonenebraska.
2025 will mark the twenty-first year of the One Book One Nebraska reading program, sponsored by the Nebraska Center for the Book. It encourages Nebraskans across the state to read and discuss one book, chosen from books written by Nebraska authors or that have a Nebraska theme or setting. The Nebraska Center for the Book invites recommendations for One Book One Nebraska book selection year-round at http://centerforthebook.nebraska.gov/obon-nomination.asp.
One Book One Nebraska is sponsored by Nebraska Center for the Book, Humanities Nebraska, and Nebraska Library Commission. The Nebraska Center for the Book brings together the state’s readers, writers, booksellers, librarians, publishers, printers, educators, and scholars to build the community of the book, supporting programs to celebrate and stimulate public interest in books, reading, and the written word. The Nebraska Center for the Book is housed at and supported by the Nebraska Library Commission.
As the state library agency, the Nebraska Library Commission is an advocate for the library and information needs of all Nebraskans. The mission of the Library Commission is statewide promotion, development, and coordination of library and information services, “bringing together people and information.”