Widow of Gettysburg - A Review

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The place where, for three days, one of the most know battles of the Civil War was fought. Union widow Liberty Hollowaway is unprepared to have her farm taken over as a Confederate field hospital and that she's expected to nurse the wounded men, some of whom may have been responsible for her husband's death. Former slave, Bella Jamison, works as a hired hand for Liberty as well as other women of Gettysburg. When one wounded solider unknowingly reveals a connection to a Southern plantation owner, Liberty longs for answers at the same time that Bella wants to run from the past. The bravery and the courage of the women will help them put the past behind them and move forward to an uncertain future.

I have long been a Civil War fan. I know of Gettysburg, of course, but I didn't know about what the people of the town actually went through. This is the first book I've read by Jocelyn Green and it won't be my last. Rich with historical detail, the book explores how the people - the women especially - banded together in the aftermath of one of the most horrific battles of the Civil War and their lives were forever changed.

There is so much to this book. At first, the varying points of view were hard to follow, but as the book went on, I was lost in the history of the story. The story is actually pulled from true accounts of the diaries and journals of women who lived in Gettysburg in 1863. There was one point I wanted to hit a Confederate doctor over the head for refusing to aid a wounded Union solider found on Liberty's farm when the doctor himself had all but forced Liberty, a Union widow, to assist him in treating Confederate patients. Most books I've read on the Civil War have been set in the South (Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, etc) and show the devastation to the people of the South. It was refreshing to read a book set in the North for once. This was not a light-hearted read. There are very strong emotions in the book. In fact, once I finished it, I found a couple of books that I'd read in the past to reread that were light-hearted. Yet, I applaud the courage these women showed. True, they didn't have much choice. But they stayed and ministered to and cared for the wounded - Union or Confederate - without seeing the uniform. To these women, the hurting were just men. Men who were fighting for what they believed in whether they were from the North or from the South.

I received the Kindle version of the book for free from Moody Publishers via NetGalley for the purpose of reviewing. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recommend to fans of the Civil War, Laura Frantz, Sarah Sundin, Francine River's historical fiction, Gone With the Wind

Rating - 4.5 stars, which will be 4 stars on Amazon.

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