Ward 20

One of the most candid and acclaimed novels to rise from the ashes of World War II. This is a compelling story of just 24 hours in the lives of soldiers in the amputee ward of an army hospital -- and the nurses who are treating them. The men paid the ugly price of war. Shattered in body and spirit, they find themselves tormented by the desperate, human needs they can't satisfy.

"You read a book with your eyes, but this one hits you between them. Here is truth-telling that rises above mere authorship." Birmingham News

"This one is a shocker. Most people will be shocked by the language. Most people should be shocked by the facts. The story is tough, tender and outrageous. To those who know and have seen, the facts are eloquent." Boston Globe

"This book is no bedtime story. It will hit you with the brutal force of a firehose." New Jersey Home News

"A two-fisted novel warranted to knock readers out of any complacency they may have regarding the expert care of our wounded soldiers. There are wounds of the mind that can not be healed." Meridian Record-Journal

"Anybody who has been in a military hospital will find the atmosphere authentic. This is a book for realists." Lincoln Journal Star

"The book has sincerity and impact," Pittsburgh Press

"The end of a war can be bitter. The value of therapy in modern medicine cannot be denied, but the therapies cannot cover the silent cry in the heart of a young man without legs, without sight, without full understanding of the awful, discriminating forces that cut him down or blindfolded him forever. It is a good book for wearers of rose-colored glasses." Press and Sun Bulletin

"Most of the people who read this book will be shocked, and others will be angered. Ward 20 is a strong book and, I think, a true book. What I like, aside from the technical excellence of Bellah's writing, is its vivid sense of reality. The characters live and breathe." Chicago Tribune

"In a rather splashy, sensational style Bellah, a veteran of two wars himself, gets right down to earh on the matter of the hopelessly wounded of World War II. It is a pretty savage picture..." The Evening Star

"If this is a shocking book, it's because it admits frankly the fact that hospitals are sex-charged places full of unfulfilled and unfulfillable yearnings. There are many, I hope, who will see far more in this book than a dozen intertwined tales of lust among the limbless." Saturday Review of Literature