Hallam's War
Elizabeth Payne RosenHistorical romance
Available from Berkley Publishing
ISBN: 978-0-425-22846-3
August 2009
| Hugh Hallam is one of those men whose moral values are the kind many look up to. Still, he doesn't feel he can go all out on either side of the slavery issue. Without the slaves he's not sure he can do all the things he wants to in his quest to make his plantation the best it can be. Ross McQuirter is his opposite in many ways, all for slavery and being the master of his domain and all he owns. Talk of Civil War surrounds them. Hugh hopes it will go away, Ross hopes to profit from it. Perhaps neither can get their wish.
Elizabeth Payne Rosen pens one of those stories that treats the Civil War in a unique way. We read about the battles, the highlights we know from history, but also delve into the lives of individuals in the south, both slave and master. Generals on both sides of the conflict come alive as do the soldiers who fought for a life they believed in. The author leaves the right or wrong up to individual readers but shows us the human beings that were affected and how slavery treated so many. Excellent characters fill the pages as their lives affect one another. It's different when we read about something as if we have an insider's viewpoint of lives and the issues that drive them. Hugh and his wife Serena take center stage in the romance. Others like Mary Ann, a young slave girl and Azalie McQuirter, Ross' wife, aren't a central focus but may stick longer in the reader's memory. This story flows in a way that will hold the reader glued to the pages even though we know how the War itself turned out.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Dee Dailey |
