bookchickdi: Liar Temptress Soldier Spy

Showing posts with label Liar Temptress Soldier Spy. Show all posts

Monday, September 8, 2014

Some Great Fall Reads

Reprinted from the Citizen (auburnpub.com)

Fall is fast approaching, and that means we put away the light beach reads and look for more something more substantial, maybe something that makes us think a little more.

At the Book Expo of America this past spring, people were all abuzz about Matthew Thomas’ debut novel “We Are Not Ourselves”, which tells the story of a life in its entirety.

Eileen Leary is born in Queens, NY in 1941. She spends most of her time caring for her hard drinking parents, and hoping for a better life. It looks like that dream may come true when she meets Ed, a research scientist.

They move solidly into middle-class America, and all the aspirations that entails. But things happen that they don’t plan for, and that endangers Eileen’s dreams. The character of Eileen Leary is destined to be one that people talk about for a long time to come. This is an unforgettable story of an American life.

We Are Not Ourselves

Coming in October is the story of another Irish woman, one who lives in 1950s Ireland. Colm Toibin takes a minor character barely mentioned in his brilliant novel “Brooklyn” and tells her life story in “Nora Webster.”

Nora loses her husband and becomes a widow with four children. Her two daughters are old enough to be on their own, and her two younger sons are still at home.

Nora struggles to find a job, care for her sons and keep her household together, all while mourning her loss. Once again, Toibin writes about a quiet woman, one who finds the inner strength to move forward, and who finds that she can create a fulfilling life on her own.

Nora Webster

Thrity Umrigar’s superb last novel, “The World We Found” brought the reader into the world of four college friends in 1970’s India and how they grew and changed over the years.

Her new novel is “The Story Hour” tells the story of a psychologist who becomes personally involved with a young patient. The young woman is an Indian immigrant who tried to kill herself.

The young woman is trapped in a marriage to a man who treats her as a possession. She is allowed out only to work at their restaurant or to the grocery store. The women share long-hidden secrets, some of which threaten their friendship and maybe more. Umrigar writes beautifully and she can break your heart.

The Story Hour

For those who like reality, Karen Abbott takes us back to the Civil War with her book “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy” about four real women who took on big roles in the brutal war.

Emma Edmonds pretends to be a man so that she can fight for the North in the war. Abbott tells us that there were over 400 women who donned a male disguise to fight on both sides of the war, a shocking figure to me.

Elizabeth Van Lew, who was the subject of Jennifer Chiaverini’s historical novel “Spymistress” last year, gets the nonfiction treatment in this novel.

She is from a prominent Richmond, Virginia family and figures out a way to visit the Northern prisoners captured and held in her city while managing to run a spy ring that provides troop and strategy information for Union generals.

Two Confederate women are also featured in the book. Rose O’Neal Greenhow is a Washington D.C. widow who uses her home, which has a not-so-reputable image, as a place to provide comfort to powerful Northern politicians.

She seduces these men and uses the confidences they inappropriately share with her to provide information to the Confederacy.

Belle Boyd begins the war by shooting a Union soldier in her Virginia home. She manages to get herself out of that mess and becomes determined to use her feminine charms to get information for the Confederacy.

Liar Temptress Soldier Spy

I will end on a humorous note. Five years ago, Jonathan Tropper wrote a hilarious novel, “This Is Where I Leave You”, about a family who sits shiva for their father. Judd has just found his wife in bed with his boss, so he loses his job and his marriage and now has to deal with his crazy family.

This book made me laugh so hard and now it is a movie, with Jason Bateman, Tina Fey and Jane Fonda. They all appeared at the Book Expo to talk about the movie, and all I can say is read the book and then see the movie on September 19^th if you want a good laugh.

This Is Where I Leave You

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott

Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy by Karen Abbott
Published by Harper ISBN 978-0-06-209289-2
Hardcover, $27.99, 544 pages

Karen Abbott shows us a unique perspective of the American Civil War through the fascinating stories of four women. Two of them supported the cause of the Confederacy and two of them worked to keep the Union together.

Emma Edmonds ran away from her family, cut off her hair, and enlisted as a Union soldier. She became Frank and ended up working first as a medic, carrying injured soldiers off the battlefield and assisting the doctors in their care. It was brutal and bloody.

Her next job was as a postmaster, but she eventually came to the attention of the Secret Service, run by Allen Pinkerton. He had Emma, whom he believed to be a man, pose as an Irish peddler and as a black slave and infiltrate the Confederate lines to get information. She was a woman posing as a man posing as a woman- crazy!

Pinkerton also became involved with Rose, a Washington DC widow who used her feminine charms to seduce prominent Union politicians to get information to send to the Confederacy. Pinkerton worked hard to get evidence against her and eventually arrested her for espionage.

I was shocked that not only did Rose use her eight-year-old daughter to pass information to her spies, but when Rose was arrested, her daughter was held in jail with her. The conditions were horrible, and to subject a young child to that was unfair.

Elizabeth Van Lewis was from a prominent Richmond, Virginia family. She supported the Union, not a popular thing to do in Richmond. She used her superior intellect to organize a spy network through her work assisting Union prisoners held in a Richmond compound.

She was able to recruit many spies, hide prisoners and send them back North, and get information to Union generals about Confederate troop movements. Jennifer Chiaverini wrote a historical fiction about Van Lew last year, titled Spymistress, that told Van Lew's story more in depth.

Belle Boyd was a young, headstrong teen when she shot and killed a Union soldier who was in her family's home. She loved the spotlight, and after escaping punishment for her crime, she became further emboldened and began to spy for the Confederacy.

She thought nothing of riding behind enemy lines to get the information to pass onto General Stonewall Jackson, who she had romantic feelings for.

I found it interesting that Rose and Belle both traveled to Great Britain in their quest to get England to aide the Confederacy. It was also fascinating to note that Pope Pius IX was the only world leader to recognize the Confederacy.

These women were brave and clever, using every feminine wile and intellect they had to advance the cause they held dear to them. Whether sewing secret messages in Jefferson Davis' wife's dresses or creating fake documents to fool the opposition, these women were remarkable and Abbott tells their stories with breathtaking interest.

Like many soldiers, the end of the war was difficult for them. The excitement was over, and it was difficult to return to their old lives. It was sad to find out how their lives ended.

Abbott brings these exciting women to life on the page, and I found their stories thrilling. Although this is a big book, I read it quickly, waiting to see what these brave women would do next. This is a book any history buff, but especially women, will enjoy.

Rating 4 of 5