Nonfiction: Liar Temptress Soldier Spy, Karen Abbott

Liar Temptress Soldier Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War
Karen Abbott
ISBN: 9780062092892
Read September 25, 2014

This was an impressive undertaking, but I think that the author slightly shot herself in the foot narratively by limiting her quotations to actual letters or family recollections.  That meant there was a lot of text about what was going on around the characters, and a lot of text about what the women were doing, but not as much from their "voices," which, while I understand her wanting to keep her history as pure as possible, isn't really the best narrative choice when you've got four women to switch back and forth from, and despite your attempt in the title to differentiate, ALL of them at one point are spies.

Other than that difficulty, which did make it occasionally difficult to keep straight between Rose and Elizabeth, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Our "heroines" are:

Belle Boyd, a teen with more passion than sense, "spying" for the Confederacy in a contested portion of Virginia (then West Virginia).

Emma Edmondson (later Edmonds) who ran from an abusive father in Canada before joining the North as private (and courier, and mail carrier and nurse and aide-de-camp and spy) Frank Thompson.

Rose O'Neal Greenhow, a Confederate lady living in Washington, spying for the Confederacy through brazen flirtations with political officials on both sides.

Elizabeth Van Lew, staunch Abolitionist living in Richmond Virginia, in the heart of the new Confederate capital, rescuing Union prisoners and creating a massive spy ring that included a house servant who cleaned up Jeff Davis' own personal study.

We run chronologically through the war, staying with whoever was experiencing the more interesting events, or in busy times, jumping back and forth through the months to follow each of them in detail.  because Belle and Emma were so different from each other in their personalities and jobs, this didn't create much trouble, but as mentioned before, did get occasionally confusing between Rose and Elizabeth, each doing essentially the same things for the different sides.

There were also a few tonal missteps, the most jarring during a scene where Rose O'Neal Greenhow, the Confederate spy, was taken to court on suspicion of treason.  Her words blaze all down both pages, recounted most likely from the court transcriptionist, and they are heavy and oh so genteel.  At the bottom of the page the author has her return home to her daughter who begs for a story in yet another direct quotation, and then in the author's words, Rose obliged, "making it all up as she went along, and letting the good guys win" (emphasis mine).  The "good guys" is your word choice?  Really?  After that stunning example of the English language and formal behavior, "the good guys win?"  Just really stunningly out of place.  There were a couple of moments like that.

More confusingly, there were places where the meaning was unclear: both Belle and Emma recount, and Abbott carefully transcribes, events that could not possibly have taken place, but in each case, the recounting (both in quotations and in authorial writing) is extensive and vividly recounted, just as all the other events.  Either before or after, the demurral exists, but is always faint or opaque, leaving me confused about the actual events.  This really bugged me.  Again, the dedication to "truth" in historical record makes the resulting narrative confusing.  That isn't good.  If your sources are making shit up, make it crystal clear in the narrative in the moment that they are fabricating, rather than mentioning it in passing in the note before the text.

Other than those few minor niggles, I enjoyed the stories of these brave women greatly.  We need more history like this, including everyone from the past who experienced the events, not just the privileged members.

As a final note, I must say that General McClellan is about the most worthless field general (and the most personally egotistic) I have ever heard of.  Useless man.  I hope he never realized how much death and suffering resulted from his lack of ability.

The Mirk and Midnight Hour, Jane Nickerson

The Mirk and Midnight Hour

Jane Nickerson

ISBN: 9780385752862

YA: Civil-War gently creepy fantastical novel of manners.

This is a companion-book of sorts to the author's first book, Strands of Bronze and Gold, and where that one gently tweaked the Bluebeard tale, this one has Tam Lin at heart.  

The story begins with our focus character Violet reeling from the loss of her twin brother, dead in a Civil War battlefield.  Her father is preparing to head to war himself, leaving her behind with the family slaves, Laney and Michael, and baby Cubby.  Violet's household is soon filled to the brim with a stepmother (more pathetic than wicked), a stepsister (excellent character development there, shattering expectations), and a set of cousins - one, the fae and sensitive child heir to a luxe plantation, and the other, a swaggering blockade-running showboat of a young man, from the cadet branch of the family, raised on the plantation, and expected to be the heir himself until the unexpected birth of his young cousin.  The variety of relationships (and neighbors) made the story really flow like a novel of manners, gently showing relationships building and changing over time.  The discovery of an injured Union soldier in an abandoned lodge nearby, cared for by the enigmatic and creepy VanZeldt "family" of a white doctor and a set of haughty Africans changes everything, and the ripples of her discovery will impact every corner of Violet's life.

As in the other story, I was very happy to see that abusive characters are shown clearly, with no excuses made for their behaviors, even when other characters don't see (or remain willfully blind) to those faults.

I also liked the way that the author presented the question of slavery - slowly showing Violet becoming aware of how her way of life was impacting people that she loved or respected.  It could have been corny or harsh, but it was almost natural.

I especially enjoyed the tension set up by the VanZeldts.  They exist somewhere on a range from casually evil to amoral to totally alien, which is an interesting path to take with your main "villains" and I think only works as well as it does for me because of the association with the unknowable fae of the traditional Tam Lin tale.  Relatedly, I thought that the integration of houdoun and voodoo and grisgris and rootworking was done nicely (even the shoutout to traditional zombies!)  I especially enjoyed reading all the various interpretations and justifications that the different characters used to make their non-Christian practices fit into the dominant culture and belief system.

The storyline didn't grip me quite as hard as the first one did - I think partly because of familiarity.  I've encountered lots of variants on Tam Lin, some good (as this one was) and most really wretched, where I don't recall ever reading a novelization of Bluebeard other than Fitcher's Brides (which I liked, but felt like the fairy-tale association was a bit forced into the cult setting).

I'm happy to see Nickerson writing another novel so soon, and I hope that she continues - her take on the Civil War south is a nice change of pace and setting from usual fantasy works.