I’m not gonna lie: I was pretty excited to get my hands on this book. I love Civil War-era fiction, and the fact that this story was based on real people made me even more excited. Elizabeth “Lizzie” Clouston was actually the governess at Carnton, and Captain Roland Ward Jones really did convalesce at the home after the Battle of Franklin.
The research alone was astounding. And the description of the battle and the aftermath was poignant. I could almost feel the pain and anguish, especially when one of the wounded soldiers kept repeating the 23rd Psalm. As much as I loved the main characters, the secondary characters also stole my heart. There’s this one soldier named James who was definitely my favorite.
One of the things I really enjoyed about this book was the subtle conflict between Roland’s pro-slavery views and Lizzie’s abolitionist leanings. There isn’t an all-out “I hate you because you’re wrong” tension between them. In fact, I felt like they had respect for one another despite their differing views.
Another thing I liked was the focus on the emotional toil of war and the repercussions while also respecting those who fought for what they believed in. War is often glorified, and I enjoy when an author shows the good and bad.
My favorite thing about Christian fiction is finding a spiritual takeaway in the story. This novel’s takeaway, in my opinion, was that people who do bad things aren’t necessarily bad people. In fact, the novel actually stresses that we all sin and no one is better than another. I think that truth is very important to consider when reviewing history. Yes, the slave-owners were wrong to own slaves, but that didn’t make them bad people. It just made them humans who did a bad thing, just like we all do.
With This Pledge is wonderfully written. Tamera Alexander really should be crowned the queen of Civil War fiction. I highly recommend you read her Belmont Mansion series. I haven’t finished her Belle Meade series, but the first book was excellent.
Want to check out this book yourself? Click the picture to go to Christian Book Distributors and grab a copy.
Want more Civil War fiction? Check out my post with mini-reviews of 4 Civil War books here.
