“I’m eighteen,” Eric the Red lies to the Army recruiter at Hope High one spring day. A record twenty-three students enlist, including one foster-boy. This story documents their experiences in training and in deployment in Afghanistan. Eric predicted he would come home in a casket – and he does – along with twelve other lads from the town. How the soldiers deal with the dangers of life in a hostile country, how the families in the community of Hope rise above their loss, and how the returning soldiers and their loved ones – including one soldier who chose to go AWOL – cope with their challenges, makes for a gripping tale of action that is heartwarming to the end. Inside Hope is a novel that could well have occurred in any town in America. It bonds the families together in time of war as they reach out to survive their grief.