The Friday Five Link Up is a List Link Up hosted by The Book Date. It can be five connections of any kind. Books can have been read last year or any year. Books can be used more than once. They may not have been read yet. . . It can be as simple or as complicated as you like. Maybe it's not a list of actual books, but things connected to books - e.g. favourite book shops, recipes etc. It might even be five movies related to books or five poems or five poets or five bookish moments, five thoughts about reading - be creative! The link-up will be open each Friday and will close on Thursday. Use the hashtag #connect5books
I started putting together this list the week of Memorial Day. Five novels set during the War Between the States.
The Rebel Bride by Shannon McNear - Union soldier Joshua Wheeler suffers a devastating injury at Chickamauga and is taken prisoner by the Confederates. Along with other wounded soldiers, he is billeted at a home nearby rather than being transported to Richmond. Pearl MacFarlane is loyal to the Confederacy despite her family's staunch opposition to holding slaves. She is still reeling with the news that all three of her older brothers lost their lives in battle when her cousin shows up with a wagonload of wounded Yankee prisoners and she is pressed into serving as a nurse.
To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander - This story is set immediately following the Civil War, with young widow Olivia Aberdeen going to live with family friends at Belle Meade Plantation. Olivia's late husband was shot as a traitor to the South, so she is no longer accepted by society. And since her marriage was an unhappy one, she is determined not to be under the thumb of any man again. Ridley Cooper is from South Carolina, but during the Civil War, he fought for the Union. An encounter during wartime with Belle Meade's head hostler affected him deeply and after the war, he returns to Belle Meade, hoping to learn from this 'horse whisperer'. Of course, in order to get - and keep - a position working in Belle Meade's stables means keeping his Union Army past a secret.
Company Aytch by Sam Watkins - This novel was required reading when my boys did American history in high school, and although I haven't read it, they said they liked it. Because it was very real and raw. It's the personal memoir of a private in the confederate Army, a series of firsthand observations and recollections from combat in the battlefields to encounters with famous leaders, grueling marches and confronting enemy soldiers. It's lively, witty, and told in an engaging style.
The Red Badge of Courage by Stephen Crane - Here's another classic set during the American Civil War. It's the story of a young private in the Union Army who flees from the field of battle. He's so ashamed he longs for a wound, a "red badge of courage", to offset his act of cowardice.
Little Women by Louisa May Alcott - The four March sisters and their hard-working mother are manage to support the family, help neighbors, make new friends, and have so much fun and learn valuable life lessons along the way. The interesting thing about this one is that I read it many times when I was growing up and never understood that it took place during the Civil War. I remembered that Mr. March was away from home serving with an Army, but I never clued in which army or made the connection. I'm not even completely sure I realized it was set in the United States! Anyway, at some point as an adult all the pieces fell into place, and I've continued to enjoy this sweet story of everyday at home during the war.
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Interesting list. I've read the last 2; will definitely check the others out.
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