The Choice Within

Gold Medal Winner - 2025 HFC Hemingway — Historical Fiction Company

"Meticulously researched, artfully crafted. Not a story you read, but one you live… Profoundly moving, by a master of historical fiction." Must Read — Reedsy Discovery

Save. Kill. Live. Die. How much do I give?

1944, and war rages in the Pacific. Two young recruits from opposing sides destined to cross paths without ever meeting, changing their lives forever…

Honolulu—Dedicated nurse Lieutenant Jeannette Crawford has been working tirelessly, with dedication and wisdom beyond her years, to help wounded US servicemen on home soil face their greatest enemy—time. Wanting to do more, she volunteers to serve on a hospital ship, hoping to save the men she treats and worrying about the man she loves. But nothing can prepare her for the horrors she now faces on the front lines of the Pacific islands.

Tokyo—Akira Tanaka is conscripted to serve his country. He does so with determination to honor his family and the country he loves. Initially motivated in his fighter-plane training, he soon discovers that the news being shared with the people of Japan is a lie: the Combined Fleet is losing badly, and their European allies crumbling.

As the ferocity of fighting intensifies, and the reality of combat hits home, nurse and pilot experience very different wars in striking parallel. But when the Americans close in on the Japanese home islands, and the emperor's forces become increasingly desperate in their tactics, the true, horrifying heartbreak of Jeannette and Akira's shared destiny becomes clearer, drawing closer…

The Choice Within is a story of two people, opposite in many ways, yet share an idealism, love of life, and the same questions: who is the real enemy and how much do I give? This heartrending fiction weaves historical events into a rich, poignant tale of love, duty, sacrifice, and questions never asked until the end.