“This powerful, haunting story by a former Marine officer deployed to Iraq is about being a woman in a traditionally male world, about war and peace and love and death, and about the heat of the desert and the coldness of loss. This is a heart-racing read, full of surprises, with a knock-out message—women, listen up!”—Susan Cheever, author of Drinking in America and Home Before Dark

“A startlingly frank discussion of both a combat deployment and the fallout from an affair, Teresa Fazio’s Fidelis is an incisive, fascinating, and thankfully unromantic account of love and war.”—Phil Klay, author of Redeployment, winner of the National Book Award

“Fidelis is an achingly good book about love, war, and return—that rarest of memoirs that manages to be both true to the experience and genuine art at the same time. Teresa Fazio establishes herself as a first-rate writer with this accomplishment. Know her name and this courageous, fierce story too.”—Matt Gallagher, author of Empire City and Youngblood 

“Teresa Fazio’s candid and compelling memoir of family trauma and war sheds new light on the nature of moral injury. Fidelis explores the deeply human need to be connected to others and loved unconditionally, in war and at home. An essential read for those seeking to understand the challenges and questions young women face while serving in the armed forces.”—Jerri Bell, coeditor of It’s My Country Too: Women’s Military Stories from the American Revolution to Afghanistan

“Fidelis is a tender, intimate coming-of-age story from a wonderful writer. Teresa Fazio perfectly re-creates the fumbling anxiety of early adulthood, masterfully capturing how the pressures of the Marine Corps honor code, Catholic tenets, and childhood memories combined to complicate her growth into womanhood. For anyone seeking to understand who serves in today’s military, this is a must-read book.”—Kayla Williams, author of Plenty of Time When We Get Home: Love and Recovery in the Aftermath of War