On April 12, 1861, the Civil War began at Ft. Sumter, so today I’m reviewing a few books that are either set during the Civil War or directly after. This is one of my favorite eras to read about, so it was difficult to narrow them down, but I chose a few that I read most recently.
The Heart of Home is a novella, but it was one of the few that didn’t get on my nerves. Set shortly after the end of the war, this book shows a daughter and her mother trying to survive after their lifestyle crumbles. I think a lot of us can agree that slavery is wrong, but few of us think about the families who had to fight for survival afterward. They weren’t as rich as they thought they were, and Opal Martin represents many Southern belles who had to pick up the pieces and move forward.
McGee did a great job of showing compassionate Confederate characters without excusing the institution of slavery. Tristan and Opal are merely presented as individuals who are trying to overcome the ravages of war.
Within this struggle, you have a bit of romance as two individuals dealing with the aftermath in different ways cross paths in an unexpected way. Tristan just wants to die and get away from it all. Opal’s fighting the idea of leaving it all behind. Within this struggle is a bit of romance as the get to know each other a little better. While I found the romance to be a bit fast-paced, the novella in now way excuses it. McGee shares in a note the delightful inspiration to Opal and Tristan’s romance, and while I don’t won’t to spoil it, I will say it made me appreciate the story that much more.
The Planter’s Daughter was better than I expected. The romance was a bit of a change. I don’t think I’ve ever read a romance between the overseer and the master’s daughter before, but Michelle Shocklee did a wonderful job. I loved seeing the characters’ attitudes toward slavery shift as the novel progressed, which I found more realistic than other novels that try to make the Southern characters opposed from the start. Although I know there were some Southerners who opposed slavery, it doesn’t seem realistic that a plantation owner’s daughter would hold those beliefs when she grew up with the institution. But both Adella Rose and Seth experience some things on the plantation that make them begin to question everything they’ve ever believed to be true.
Shocklee did a wonderful job with the character arcs, and at points, I was holding my breath wondering if the characters would accomplish everything they wanted to. It’s a great read, and I couldn’t put it down.
The Widow of Rose Hill is the sequel to The Planter’s Daughter, and it’s even better than its predecessor. Adella Rose’s sister-in-law Natalie is the heroine, and she has transformed from the spoiled belle we see in The Planter’s Daughter to a determined woman willing to fight for her son’s inheritance.
In this book, we see the usual Confederate-Union romance. The Civil War is now over, and Union Colonel Levi Maish arrives with his troops and camps at her home. As expected, the two clash. But it’s what Shocklee does with these clashes that I really admire. Both characters begin to slowly understand the other and how their upbringing and lifestyle influenced their beliefs. And Shocklee also explores how Southerners who depended upon slave labor to support the agrarian economy struggled after the war to find a new way of life. There’s no sugarcoating, no shying away from the issues on both sides of the war, and the novel definitely leaves you with something to think about: maybe the opposing side isn’t 100% bad.
A Stranger on My Land is a novella that serves as a quick, light read in an interesting era. Carrie stumbles upon a wounded Union soldier, and although she is tempted to leave him, compassion drives her to take pity on him, even though Union soldiers were the reason she had to flee her home and hide in a cave.
The Union-Confederate romance isn’t new, and the romance itself is light. I didn’t see a lot of interactions between Carrie and Jay that allowed me to see them falling in love. They thought about each other, worried about each other, and talked to each other, but I wasn’t fully convinced they were in love. There is a redemptive moment when Jay is in danger, and Carrie must go out of her way to save him. The tension was very high, and it pushed me to keep reading to discover Jay’s fate, but the ending didn’t leave me completely satisfied. A nice read for a quiet afternoon, but I felt there could have been more depth if the novel was longer.
If you’re interested in reading any of these books, click on the picture to go to Amazon.
