Edna Ferber

World War I caused many young men from America to leave their homes and travel into the great big world out there. By the many thousands they traveled by bus and train from tiny villages in every state to the big cities and then they rubbed shoulders with other men from a variety of cultures and beliefs. Then they travelled more than in their wildest dreams, across oceans to Europe. When returning they were different boys and men, much more worldly and knowing. But what about their girl friends that were left behind? They stayed in the tiny towns and stayed provincial so that when their boyfriends returned they felt very inadequate. This story is about an ordinary girl and boy caught up in this situation and how learning to say "a piece of bread" in French can make all the difference in a girls confidence about life and love.