To Whisper Her Name

I just finished this great book by Tamera Alexander.   Set just after the Civil War, the story takes place at Nashville's Belle Meade Plantation.    Young, shamed widow Olivia Aberdeen arrives at the plantation to stay with her mother's dear friend and her family.   A young soldier, Ridley Cooper arrives at the same time to study under horse trainer Robert Green.  You see in the prologue that Cooper and Green met in an unusual circumstance during the war.   I would characterize this book as historical romantic fiction.  While the romance is the main part of the story, there are several other sub plots involving horse training, the plantation owner's past life, war stories, and the former slaves.  I am not usually one to read romance novels but I picked this one up because it was Civil War era fiction, which I enjoy.  I was pleasantly surprised that even though you can surely figure out where the romance is headed, the other parts of the story made it an excellent read.  

Other Civil War era books I've enjoyed:

Candle in the Darkness by Lynn Austin (set in Richmond)--there are two others in the series also
All Things New by Lynn Austin
A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner
The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks (not Christian fiction, but a great read!)

Click on the Civil War tab at the bottom of the post and you can see some reviews of these books.

All Things New by Lynn Austin

Lynn Austin is one of my all-time favorite Christian fiction (CF) authors.  One of the first CF books I read in my adult life was her novel Hidden Places.  Lynn writes contemporary as well as historical novels.  She has one Biblical fiction series, Chronicles of the Kings.  This is a five-book account of the kings of Israel from Hezekiah to Manasseh.  Sounds boring....but she makes it come alive.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised to find out her new book, All Things New, was just released.  This novel is set in the aftermath of the Civil War on a Virginia plantation (I love books set in or near my home!).  The main character Josephine is torn between wanting the life she had before the war and trying to change everything she's known to make a better way.  Josephine and her family lost their father and one brother in the way, and Josephine's mother, in particular, is deep in grief.  Her mother wants desperately for things to be the way they were before.  Josephine's surviving brother is full of hatred for the Yankees and the now-free slaves.  Josephine is in favor of letting the former slaves work the land in return for food and shelter, but the rest of her family is against it.  Josephine must try to convince her family this is what they must do to survive.

I thought the book gave a great picture of what life was like for Southern women after the Civil War.  In many cases, they were the ones that had to rebuild their lives.  The story is told through the eyes of three women---primarily Josephine, but also her mother and their former house slave, Lizzie.

Once again, Lynn Austin doesn't disappoint!

A Sound Among the Trees by Susan Meissner

I was shopping at an outlet mall and saw a large Books-a-Million store.  Of course I had to check it out and was pleasantly surprised at the selection of Christian fiction they had in the store.  I noticed on the front cover the image of a lady dressed in Civil War era clothing, and having just finished a wonderful novel set in this time period by Lynn Austin, I was still in that mindset.  In reading the back cover it looked like this was a more modern story taking place in a house that had been around since before that war.  I had never read this author before and was glad to find something new.

I was hooked from the first chapter.  A young bride marrying a widower with two children moves into the house belonging to the deceased first wife's grandmother.  The children had lived there all their lives and the couple thought it would be best for them to continue to live there.  At the wedding reception held at the home, the young bride Marielle hears talk of ghosts, an ancestor who was a spy for the union (the setting is Fredericksburg, Virginia), soldiers buried in the cellar, and more.  Over the course of the novel Marielle's curiosity about the house and her discoveries uncovers the secrets of the line of women who have lived there from the Civil War until the present.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book for a couple of reasons.  For starters, I love historical fiction and its setting is not far from my own home.   The author does a wonderful job of intertwining the past and the present, and the women characters in the book all must make similar sacrifices in the name of love.   In the end you see a cycle of unhealthy choices get broken.  The references to God are subtle but very evident.  A good book to recommend to a friend that might shy away from Christian fiction, fearing it would be too preachy.  This is just an intriguing story that shows how love and forgiveness can heal hearts.