Susan Rivers (1)Critiques

A strange marriage that happens quickly between a Civil War soldier and a teenage girl eventually does turn into love. Gryffth, the soldier, returns to find that his wife Placidia has had a child that was obviously not his, that she has apparently killed, according to the people in the area. She is also accused of having an affair with a slave. This book largely covers what really happened in the 2 years that Gryffth is gone. Strangely uplifting in the end, I found this to be a good read.

First, I LOVE the name Placidia. It stands on its own as a signal, a beacon of a different time, and it almost evokes a sense of place. Fascinating too, is that this book is based on true events. I admire Rivers' ability to track this story given the construct. (I think my head would have exploded) She takes care with each character's role, and as I read, I imagined a stage where each one spoke their part, giving hints and details on what they knew about the dramatic event that captivated and horrified all who knew - or thought they knew - Placidia's story.

One of the most commendable aspects of the narrative is the way Susan Rivers has captured the essence of voices from the past. I have a couple of Civil War diaries and she has written this book (in epistolary form) with the unique lilt and cadence of language at that time. It makes me wonder - if in one hundred and fifty years, we can sound so different, what will our language be one hundred years plus from now?

Another is the tension she creates as the reader gleans a tiny bit more knowledge of the facts with each letter written, each diary entry, and each inquest. Even while a reader might begin to suspect that the accusations ARE suspect, Rivers confidently, and capably delivers the conclusion at exactly the right time.

Highly recommend for those who like reading books set during the Civil War, and written in epistolary form.

The time period of this book is a difficult one to write in, and I just think this book glosses over so much. Placidia is presented as a good person who treats her slaves fairly....but she also owns slaves and thinks not much about the disconnect between wanting her own freedom to build a life with her husband and the fact that she literally owns people. There is no way to treat a slave fairly - it is a complete contradiction in words. Clearly, this isn't something the author wants to focus on, instead primarily leaning on the slowly (too slowly, frankly) unraveled mystery of Placidia's dead child, but you can't set a book in this time period without dealing with the actual horrors of the time. The big reveal of how the child died is another slap in the face, mostly because it is so unnecessary. The death could have been left ambiguous. It could have been clearly natural from the events that were going on. It could even have been clarified as murder by Placidia herself, or death from neglect, or any number of other things. Instead, it is murder by the enslaved woman working in Placidia's home. Really? I finished this book but wish I hadn't. There's much better stuff our there.

Decently researched as far as battles, clothes, foods, chores and interesting if unnecessarily complicated.
The main character is an extremely romanticized view of a southern white woman who participated in the chattel slave trade. In fact was born and raised and married in it but seems to hold no prejudiced views towards her 'servants'.
When a white author is too fragile to accurately label chattel slaves they should take that as a clue and choose a new subject.
Benevolent chattel slave owners only exist in the imagination of racist white folks. Every single person who participated in any aspect of the chattel slave trade was a bad person who's character is irredeemably scarred. The main character is not realistic to her time and class but is sanitized so modern audiences can sympathize with her.
I don't.
I don't care about her or her husband's pain. It is just that they suffered and I sincerely hope their existence was forever haunted.
None of the black characters are developed or have story lines outside of their usefulness to the main white characters.
I've read a fair bit of non fiction about southern women before and during the Civil War; black free, enslaved and white chattel slave oppressing, none of the views expressed or behaviors match the diaries or letters written at that time. Mrs Hockaday does not feel like her contemporaries and her differences are never explained.
White women left on plantations and farms with enslaved peoples had very negative and fearful views of those enslaved peoples the longer the war carried out. They were very angry with them for leaving, fearful of their desire for freedom and many white women took it very personally. Also they were terrified of armed black union troops. As white slave 'owners' felt entitled enough to black folks labor to steal it for centuries, why would the Civil War and it's trials change that?
We all know it did not.
Miscegenation is invented as a word and becomes illegal in 1864. Post Civil War the KKK is created. If southern whites suddenly realized their 'slaves' were people, why did we have and continue to have racial segregation and lynching? Both attest to southern white anxiety resulting in terrorist behaviors carried out on fellow citizens.
This narrative is just grossly apologist in nature.

FROM ARC FRONT PAGE: When Major Gryffth Hockaday is called to the front lines of the Civil War, his new bride is left to care for her husband’s three-hundred-acre farm and infant son. Placidia, a mere teenager herself living far from her family and completely unprepared to run a farm or raise a child, must endure the darkest days of the war on her own. By the time Major Hockaday returns two years later, Placidia is bound for jail, accused of having borne a child in his absence and murdering it. What really transpired in the two years he was away?

A love story, a story of racial divide, and a story of the South as it fell in the war, The Second Mrs. Hockaday reveals how this generation—and the next—began to see their world anew.

Not even quite an adult when she weds, Placidia is now stepmother to an infant and wife to a major returning to war. During his absence of two years, she gives birth and is charged with killing the newborn. There are some startling occurrences in this tale, but it takes them so very long to make their appearance in this slow-moving story, the reader is almost caught off-guard when they happen. The characters are interesting, as is the plot, but the plodding nature of the story does not add to its enjoyment. And yet, the end seems rushed, with some story threads left dangling. This is a good read, just not a great one.

Susan Rivers has a beautiful writing style. Placidia the main character of the story is intelligent and dignified in her young age. As a mere teenager, she is expected to run a farm, manage slaves and take care of her husbands child from his first marriage. This is during the civil war in the US southern states where times were difficult to say the least. Interesting story.

Placidia Fincher, a young woman of 17, has to make a decision quickly as to whether to marry Major Griffith Hockaday, 33 years of age before he heads off in two days to fight in the Confederate Army half way through the American Civil war. She has known this man for less than 24 hours but she and her father have a good feeling about him. She agrees to the wedding, it happens the same day and they leave for his plantation 12 miles away in Holland Creek, South Carolina.
This is a gripping, complex love story told through letters and other correspondence about Placidia’s life at the plantation during the Major’s two year absence. She raises Charlie, a toddler from Hockaday’s first marriage, manages and maintains the plantation along with the house and farm slaves, fights off carpet baggers and Confederate raiders. Rumours begin to circulate, that in January 1865, Mrs Hockaday gave birth alone to a child which died and that she buried on the property.
This is a first novel for Susan Rivers and it is so well written and the characters are so well developed that I was sorry to have it end. Placidia is a well educated, intelligent, practical, happy and loving person who waits patiently for Hockaday’s return. How she manages to survive her travails is a tribute to her character and the foundation for this amazing story.½

This is an interesting novel told in epistolary form, which gives readers the opportunity to know the characters in their own words. Set during the harrowing days of the Civil War, it is rich in historical perspectives and based on a true story. Placida is a mere teenager when she marries Major Gryffth Hockaday after an acquaintance of several days. He is then off to war, leaving Placida to manage a farm and raise his young son from his first marriage. When he returns years later, he finds that Placida has borne a child (clearly not his) and then murdered and buried the baby. The mystery of the baby's father is kept until the end, as is the outcome of their relationship.

This novel is no exception to the fine offerings by Algonquin Books. I have rarely been disappointed when reading a book published by Algonquin.

unfinished...will try again at some point.

An interesting story, more so after finding out it is based on a on a true, similar situation. The author loves to use big words. I often wonder about that. I think doing that detracts, rather than adds to the story. Good writing is good- no need to use big words to impress! Read for a book group. Over all, I liked it.

Placidia,"Dia", Fincher decides to accept Major Gryffth Hockaday who is fighting for the Rebels in the Civil War in 1863 offer of marriage after knowing him less than a day. She feels a certain spark of something special when she's around him. His wife has just died and he has a young child, Charles, that needs someone to take care of it, though he has a slave woman looking after it now on his small farm. Dia's stepsister Agnes has just had a huge wedding to Floyd Parris a wealthy landowner, though she herself has land of her own. Agnes is a bitter woman who is jealous of Dia's beauty but the seventeen-year-old Dia hasn't figured this out. She can be naive about some things. Which makes the task she is left to do all the more incredible. Hockaday takes her to their home and stays for a couple of days and then is called back to the War early and so leaves her to handle the household--something she has not been trained to do.

As a wedding present, she has brought along the slave Abner to help with the household. She quickly gets rid of the slave Sukie who is there to take care of the child because she is cruel to the child. Floyd takes her and sends her one of his slaves, Cleo in return. Floyd has been helping her out as much as he can. They need help in the fields to bring in the crop and going against Bob, who runs the fields, wishes she goes to the mailman in town and asks him, an evil man, to find her two men to buy. He sends her one who fights all the time and one who gets sick and dies. He's also reading the Hockaday's letters to each other and not sending all of them along. She also has to deal with the military and vagabonds coming to take her food, animals, and money and possibly her virtue.

The book opens up with Dia in a jail cell in 1865 being held for trial for killing the child she had while the Major was away fighting and being a prisoner of war. The child he did not father and the child for whom the father she will not name. It is whispered that Floyd is the father. This novel is told through letters from Dia to her cousin Millie and back and from Dia to the Major and back and Dia's sons to each other and their cousin in 1892 and court documents as well as Dia's diary. This is a unique way to tell a story and it may take some getting used to, but honestly, I can't imagine this book told in another way. During the Civil War journals and letters were the lifeblood of soldiers and their families. So it makes sense to use these devices to tell a story that takes place during the Civil War. You might figure most of it out ahead of time but this book still holds some surprises. I really enjoyed this book. Dia is a powerful character with grit and determination to make it no matter what, though she goes through a dark period that she does not see a way out of she finds the strength to overcome and come out the other side. I'm not quite sure what to make of her flighty son Achilles but her son Charles I do like. He is sensible and kind and smart. The Major is a bit of a rough character, but in his letters home to her he shows his soft side and how much he cares for her and that he didn't marry her just for her looks or to find a mother for his child. This is a great book and I definitely recommend it.

Quotes

He said he would not leave me for the world, and I believe him. I said I loved him as I ever did, and I hope he believed me. The truth is harder, as the truth often is. We are no longer blessed with innocence, nor do we deserve to be. Paradise may have been lost, but paradise is a bad bargain. It costs too much. It conceals serpents and is littered with graves. I would rather have this: my husband wrapped around me, his breath against my face. The cord, or something like it, sustaining me.

-Susan Rivers (The Second Mrs. Hockaday p 254)

When he returns home to his South Carolina farm following the War Between The States, Gryffth Hockaday discovers that his young second wife Placidia (married on less than 24 hours' acquaintance) has given birth to a child clearly not his and that this child died under mysterious circumstances. He institutes legal proceedings against her, stirring controversy and scandal. -- The story is told through a series of letters and journal entries, full of period detail and color. The reader gets a clear idea of what it was like to live during the period, especially if one were a woman left alone while her man was off to war. Very satisfying conclusion. Who says the epistolary novel is dead?

One of the things I truly loved about this novel was the way in which it was written. The letters and diary entries gave it a very personal feeling, much more than even if the novel was written in the first-person narrative. It gave me a feel for the setting and the sentiments of everyone around Placidia (as well as Placidia herself, of course). The story itself was captivating, as it described her struggles as a new wife and young mother. I will say that the story jumped around a bit in terms of which character was speaking and what time point was being mentioned, but that just made it all the more intriguing! The final reveal was something that I definitely would not have been able to figure out and it made me love the character of Placidia even more! This is a great historical fiction that talks about the courage of a woman during the times of Civil War! Keep on the lookout for this one, because it is superb!

I received this novel as an advance copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

A little slow at first. I was about a fourth of the through when this book sucked me in, and then I couldn't put it down. A great read!

Story was so disjointed that I found it hard to follow. Didn't really identify with the main character to begin with. Totally forgettable book.

Using the epistolary technique, this story is told through letters and diary entries. It worked well although I did have to frequently jump to the end of the letter to see who the letter was from. The time line also was a bit confusing at times – letters written between 1863 – 1865 jumping back and forth – then forward to 1892 interspersed with diary entries from 1864. But it really did not distract from the story.

As their husbands went off to war, wives were left behind to tend to the crops and livestock. But Union troops (and men dressed as troops) took food and livestock from them, not caring how the families were to survive. Slaves were leaving as the opportunity presented itself. Newly-wed Placidia barely knew her husband when he left her to tend their huge farm and his young son from his previous marriage. This was not a marriage of convenience as they seemed to truly love each other.

But two years later when Major Hockaday returns home, he finds that Placidia has been arrested for killing her newborn child, a child that definitely was not his. Can he forgive his love for whatever happened while he was away? And what did happen? Can she be honest with him? Can their love survive?

Placidia had to make many critical decisions on her own. Was she an irresponsible teenager? Or wise beyond her years? Did the Major return a cold, heartless man after the horrors of the war, or did his love for his wife cool the anger and shock?

Toward the end of the book I was totally engrossed wanting to know how life would treat these brave characters who had to do whatever it took to survive.

Placidia was only 17 and not even thinking of marriage when widower Major Gryff Hockaday swept her off her. She had a single day to decide whether to accept his proposal. Only a few days after they married, the major was called back to join his Confederate troops, and Placidia was left to manage the farm, oversee the slaves, and care for Charles, her husband's toddler son. As the situation deteriorates, Placidia finds herself charged with a crime, but she is keeping her secrets.

The novel is told in the form of letters and diary entries. Most of the action takes place in 1864-65, and the early letters are between Placidia and her cousin Mildred, but later sections set in the 1890s focus on how Achilles, the son of Placidia and Gryff, uncovered his parents' secrets and changed the way he thought about them and himself.

I can't say much more without giving away too much. I found the novel held my interest and that the author did a great job of heightening the suspense while slowly revealing the truth. The novel explores the hardships of women left alone to manage while their men are at war, as well as the dark side of slavery, but it also depicts a marriage that, although sorely tried, survives because of love.½

I listened to the audio version. It was so well-written and beautifully narrated, I mourned when it was over, and was doubly sad to find no other novels (yet) by this author. Although the narration moved between 1863, 1965, and 1892, and employed letters and diary entries, it felt seamless.

Susan Rivers weaves a tale seeped deep in Greek Mythology and based on a slave’s document. The gripping epistolary novel jumps from to war years of 1862-1865 to 30 years later. Placidia Fincher sees the somewhat dashing Major Hockaday at her cousin’s wedding, and a day Placidia has married the Major and leaves her home. After traveling 48 hours to the Major’s farm, the young couple has two days of bliss, before Major Hockaday returns to his war duties. Placidia’s writes to her cousin Millie of the troubles of running a farm and caring for the Major’s infant son and her own loneliness. The letters bring awareness to Placidia as she uncovers truths about her father and family. The story becomes very encumbered with Greek mythology and Wikipedia answers many forgotten characters. I listened to an audio version and the male reader spoke too softly, at times.

This story takes place during the Civil War and is inspired by a true incident. It is part novel, part mystery, and part love story. I loved this book and would highly recommend it.

This has to be one of the better novels I've read about the Civil War and the toll it took on those living in the American South during those years. Set around a criminal investigation of a wife who becomes pregnant while her husband is away fighting and those child then dies, this book provides a vivid portrait of a society coming apart and the strength required to endure. Excellent reading, even for those who do not typically read historical fiction.

I must say that when I started this book, I almost didn't finish. I had a very hard time with the way it was written in letter format, journal entries and court inquests and a tougher time with the language from 1863. By the time I hit 10%, I was okay, it was getting easier and the story was already building up. A mystery that I wasn't expecting.

This is the story of Placidia, a young wife and step-mother of a 2yr old little boy named Charlie, left to tend to the house and farm while her husband, Gryffth, fought in the war and all that happened in his 2-yr absence.

I thought the characters were well developed; I was very fond of most of them.

A definite recommend for historical fictions fans.

I was surprised to see that perhaps this is her only adult novel. Rivers has written lots of children's books as well as plays plays. Really a fascinating story that is a mystery right up until the very end. This generational story was a great listening experience on the CD, read by Julie McKay and James Patrick Cronin.½

Extraordinary.

This was the first of two books I coincidentally read in recent months which described the horrors of the Southern homefront during the Civil War. Here the horrors were more tangential, dealt with more matter-of-factly, never the main focus of the story but a backdrop for the central question of what happened to the Second Mrs. Hockaday, and yet those horrors were just as successfully conveyed as horrors here as in that other book, where they were more closely detailed. It's for damn sure that when the Doctor finally lands in my living room and asks me when and where I want to go, my answer may be "anywhere but the Confederate States of America anytime in the late 1800's".

But that is not the main point of the narrative. That would be too easy. What it actually is is the slow and gradual unraveling of a terrible secret– the sort of mystery that you're warned against trying to unravel, because it will change you forever. The first Mrs. Hockaday, the second Mrs. Hockaday, slave and master, infant and adult, death and life – all are tangled and entwined into a knot of pain … and a little surprising joy.

I thought of Gryffth's mouth on my neck, his laughter shaking the bed. Can one die of loneliness, I asked myself? I thought I heard the first Mrs. Hockaday's voice in my head, saying: I did.

The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.