Reviewed
by Katie
I migrated
from the Midwest to Alabama 17 years ago.
My mother's people are from Mississippi and she did not stint on our
education regarding the War of Northern Aggression and Reconstruction. As a home schooling parent, I've dug in to
History aggressively. It is not hard to
imagine how excited I was when requested to review a book set in Reconstruction
Alabama. It's a bold author that takes on the challenges of those times,
especially in a romance, and the world needs more bold authors.
Somerset
Forrest lost her fiancé and best friend five years ago at Chickamauga. She is trying to get on with her life, to
accept her dreams must change, not die, and she's finally reaching out to
another to do so. But first there are
sorrows and secrets to confront. Somerset doesn't know if she can do so until
she does. This novel is about survival. Somerset is waking up in settled ashes
and sifting through the burned timbers to find what's really left of the almost
woman was refined and tempered while she was scrubbing, tending others and
washing clothes. That the edges are still rough and the foundation a bit wobbly
makes this woman someone I could relate to. On this level, Ms. Denney was very
successful, she demonstrated the conflict of survivor's guilt that wavers and
vacillates without beating the facts to death.
The
secondary characters are well drawn and revealed in razor sharp glimpses as a
means of understanding Somerset as well as the forces that will continue to
form and change her. Her description of
Alabama barely does it justice, but I'm biased. It is neither over done nor
neglected. The narration was choppy in
places and the use of "on Chickamauga" instead of "at
Chickamauga" made me grind my teeth. I winced at several modern colloquialisms
that would never be used in the time period but those things are hand waves for
most of us.
That said,
I was disappointed by the fact not one of the former slaves is described in
this book - not physically and barely as a character of depth. There were
eighty-two slaves before the war, now there are five hired hands. Not one of
them is described as black, Negro, or even those historically offensive words:
darkie or colored. No mention of what they wear, how their hair is styled, or
their recorded age. Perhaps it is
historically accurate for the characters to ignore servants but Somerset
delivers a moving testimony regarding these specific people to her cousin that
demanded better of the "narration" for this book. If you can write about the brutality of war,
you can use the term Negro to describe a character, really, promise.
Overall, I
liked this book. I found the story compelling and the plot character-centric
enough to hold my interest. I hope this author continues to write ... after she
does more research, finds a nit picking grammar Diva and masters the art of
telling the background story once, possibly elaborating twice and then trusting
the reader to remember what was said two chapters ago. I think this book was
worth staying up until 2 a.m. reading. There is enough there to justify not
only the time but hope for the future books from this author.
I
recommend it with the following caution:
Many historical liberties were taken in this novel.
The most
glaring example is the fact Birmingham, Alabama did not exist in 1868
Alabama. The city was not named or
chartered until 1871. The ability to take the railroad from a non-existent town
to either Atlanta or Richmond is questionable. Even if you pretend there was a
railroad at non-existent Birmingham, the infrastructure was still in pieces,
that is the tracks and depots were not there. There were other historical
inaccuracies but it serves no purpose to itemize them in a review.
As I said,
Ms. Denney has potential to be a wonderful writer. I look forward to her books
when she hones her craft to a smoother finish.
