About the Book

Book: Unfit to Serve

Author: Sandra Bretting

Genre: Inspirational Historical

Release date: August 16, 2024

When the United States military adopts a newfangled test from France called the “intelligence quotient test” during the first world war, no one expects the turmoil that follows. Thousands of immigrants fail it and are forced to return to homelands devastated by war, disease, and famine.

For Josephine Pembrooke, the shy schoolmarm at Camp Travis in Texas, the problem quickly becomes apparent. How can soldiers pass a test they can’t even read? So, Jo labors in secret to create a better test. Knowing all along it can’t save the one soldier she’d hoped to help.

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About the Author

Sandra Bretting is the author of a bestselling cozy mystery series that ran for five years with Kensington Publishing, as well as three standalone mysteries and an inspirational memoir. A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism, she began her career writing for the Los Angeles Times, Orange Coast Magazine, and others. From 2006 until 2016, she wrote feature stories for the award-winning business section of the Houston Chronicle.

The second book in her mystery series earned the rank of Amazon Bestseller. Since making the switch to historical fiction, Bretting has garnered accolades for her first title, Unfit to Serve, which released in August 2024. The novel explores how the U.S. military brought the IQ test to America at the start of World War 1.

More from Sandra

Most people don’t know this, but the IQ test we’ve all heard about came to America during World War 1. French schoolteachers originally created it for their students more than a hundred years ago. Then the U.S. military found out about it, and the top brass thought they could use it to test recruits for their battle-readiness. There was only one problem: thousands of men failed it because they’d immigrated from overseas and couldn’t read the questions. They were loyal to the U.S., smart as whips, and physically capable, but they couldn’t pass a test they couldn’t read. In real life, it took the military a whole year to see the problem and come up with a better version for foreign recruits.

A whole year!

I couldn’t help but wonder what happened to those men who failed it, and how it affected their families. The recruits had come from countries devasted by famine, disease, and war, and they couldn’t go back. From there, the story evolved. I brought in a brave schoolteacher who sees the problem and struggles to fix it. Of course, being the early 1900s, women are supposed to be seen and not heard (like children) so she’s stonewalled at every turn. But she doesn’t stop. Josephine (Jo) knows that God cares about justice too, and she looks to Him for help when everything falls apart.

On a different level, I loved exploring the relationship between Jo and her stiff-lipped husband, Albigence. I purposefully moved this urban couple from a sophisticated university setting to a hot, dusty military base in San Antonio. There, they’re forced to rely on each other for the first time and fight for their marriage. It’s an unconventional love story, but a love story nonetheless.

In all my books, I strive to show how people can change for the better—or worse—depending on the situation, and that the best path forward is to trust God and His timing. He’s always perfect, even when we’re not. Thank goodness we can rely on Him!

Author Interview

Are you a one project at a time author or do you have multiple projects going at once?

I’m definitely a one-project-at-a-time gal. I tried to work on two books simultaneously a few years ago—I was copywriting an inspirational memoir in the morning and finishing a cozy mystery in the afternoon—and I nearly lost my mind. It was exhausting, to be honest.

How has your life experience helped in your writing journey?

Let’s just say I’ve been through a lot. I spent a week in the ICU in 2018 with a deadly combination of sepsis and adult respiratory distress syndrome that nearly killed me. It sounds trite, but once you’ve faced death, you realize everything else is pretty trivial. I don’t take things like book reviews or number of “likes” on a post personally, because God’s put me on a road that’s allowed me to see the bigger picture.

How do you relax after a long day of writing?

I’m a big hiker, and I have a very energetic rescue pup who keeps me on the trails. My husband and I are lucky enough to have a place near Pikes Peak in Colorado, and the area is chockfull of hiking and biking trails.

Who is your favorite author? Why?

I’m a huge fan of Ernest Hemingway. Some may see it differently, but I think Old Man and the Sea is a great example of how to make something out of nothing. Hemingway created a whole world out of one Portuguese sailor’s trip out on his fishing boat. If you like art, he reminds me of Pablo Picasso in that way. Both added a lot of details and flourishes when they first started, and then they learned how to pare their art/words down to only the essentials.

Do you have extensive outlines when writing or do you write a book as you go?

I learned how to write books as I go because of my background writing mysteries. I found myself giving away the killer’s identity too early if I outlined, so I let go of that and learned to trust my characters to show me the way. I still write like that today.