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Well, that was excellent and a work of art! It's so hard to find modern Civil War era fiction that's layered and conflicted rather than being a “black and white us vs them” (in the sense of moral choice, not in sense of skin color) sort of story. This one had layers on top of layers and was incredibly researched. The stories about Carnton makes me want to up and go visit posthaste, and learning that Roland and Lizzie really did fall in love there (plus getting to read some bits from their actual correspondence) just makes it ten times better.

The prose is beautiful...and as a red-pen gal, I highly appreciated that all the correct spellings were used and all the commas and quote marks were in their proper places...to have perfect editing in a nearly 450 page book made my soul so happy and let me fall into the story without distractions.

Overall, the book read more like the vintage-y stories heavily influenced by actual veterans rather than the annoying characters who pop up in some other authors' work, showing off 20/20 vision two years before the war ends and overturning convention willy-nilly. These characters aren't certain how to deal with their changing war and they don't know every single facet of right and wrong. They are layered and real and relatable. It's very clear that Tamera Alexander immersed herself in the historical world as she did her research.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free reading copy. A positive review was not required.