Oh my word. Never before has a book changed my mind so strongly on any particular subject than "The Quaker and the Rebel"by Mary Ellis!

What a story!

I have never been a fan of war romances... WWII, WWI or Civil war - but here I sit, a converted FAN! And I can not wait until the next book.

 

This book will make you laugh, make you cry and it will give you an entirely new outlook on the Civil war era!

Reading about the outcome of so many tragic battles and the stealth need to help abused slaves escape to freedom in a dry history book simply can not give you the same impact as reading about your heroine's reaction to the horror and danger associated with the very same things.

Mary Ellis gives us all of that - first through the eyes of a staunch Quaker who is disturbed by the Southern lack of understanding as to why owning another human being is wrong, and then through the eyes of a gentile southern gentleman who is trying to do everything he can to help his precious south move into the future with as little bloodshed as possible.

It is an adventure that won't soon be forgotten and it has given me an entirely new outlook on this portion of our country's troubled past. I will never look at another Civil War battlefield the same way again, I can assure you!

Not only that... the book is extremely well-written. You can hear the skirts swish, the hooves pound and even feel the pain of corset stays. The experiences are written with such emotion attached, as well as descriptive language. And, while it is not described in the ugliest terms, nothing about the tragedy and hardship about this particular time on our bloody history is glossed over.

Mary Ellis has made a fan out of me - a new reader who is eagerly awaiting her next book and wondering if I dare read anyone else's books, for fear that they may not be in the same ballpark. I suppose I have no other choice, at least until her next book arrives in stores. I shall have to haunt the local library and find anything else that I can and hope it is equally appealing.

I received this book free in exchange for an honest review. ( )

I've read quite a few historical romances over the years but very few can really pull you into the story in such a way that you feel you're actually living each moment of the characters' lives. "The Quaker and the Rebel" by Mary Ellis is just such a novel.

We are reintroduced to Emily Harrison, the plucky protagonist from the prequel short story "Romance on the River," who is now embarking on a whole new life. She is headstrong, determined and very independent for a woman of her status and upbringing and you wouldn't normally expect a woman of her times to be so resourceful. These were the qualities that made me take such a liking to her character. She was also, as all great characters should be, quite flawed as well. She was too impetuous at times, would speak before thinking and tended to see only one side of the picture. But without these failings, she might have come across as a cardboard cutout instead of the extremely delightful and multi-layered character that she was.

Mary Ellis' writing is outstanding and the plot flowed at a great pace, neither lagging nor rushing so fast that you couldn't get a feel for the time and place and immerse yourself into the story. Civil War novels abound, but I would have to say that this one did the most to really get me to think about the day-to-day effects of the war on both sides. Not only the North-South issue, but the slave vs. freedom issues as well. There were many times I thought to myself, "well, I knew that but I never really thought about it in that way before." With the exquisite detail that Mary provides, I felt like I was actually living during those times and felt for myself how things must have really been.

I would definitely recommend this book as one of the finer examples of historical romance, and Civil War romance in particular, and if you're trying to choose among the many offerings out there, you can't go wrong with this one. ( )