Another excellent book by Lynn Austin! I fell in love with numerous characters and read each page eagerly to find out what would happen next!
After the Civil War , Josephine, her sister Mary, and her mother Eugenia try to return back to their former lives. Nothing is the same and they have a hard time adjusting to living without slaves. Eugenia is determined to bring her plantation back to its glory days but Josephine follows a different path. She realizes that they must rely on their former slaves to survive. She learns valuable lessons from Lizzie and her family. Her brother, Daniel doesn't respond well to the Yankee way of thinking. He forms a posse and even hurts his former slaves. In the midst of this. Josephine falls in love with a Yankee. Can her love be strong enough to conquer racism? Read the book to find out. You won't be disappointed! ( )

I felt like it gave a good picture of everyone’s fear and anger post civil war. Jo pain and anger was reliable. ( )

For my full, non-spoiler review: https://christianlovingbooks.blogspot.com/2018/09/all-things-new-review.html ( )

In the aftermath of the Civil War, privileged Josephine Weatherly grapples with the realities of life in the South, now that their whole way of life has changed. And then she falls in love with a Yankee... Meanwhile, former slave Lizzie tries to imagine a new life for her family, now that the possibilities seem limitless.

I found this book moderately enjoyable, but I didn't think it was on par with other books that I've read by this author. The characters seem to preach at one another quite a bit, so the dialogue comes across as heavy-handed. Plot and secondary characters take a backseat to the main characters' grappling with moral and spiritual issues. Reconstruction-era Virginia is pretty bleak, with no easy solutions to the problems left in the aftermath of the war, so the way the book wraps up seems a little forced and unrealistic. Readers who enjoy historical inspirational fiction may enjoy this, but it's not one that I'd recommend to those unfamiliar with the genre. ( )

I liked the story. I just thought, especially at the end, that it was unbelievable for the time period and setting. It alternates points of view between the daughter of a white plantation owner and a woman who was formerly enslaved on that plantation. Josephine is the daughter and the events of the civil war have caused her to question how she was raised. Her mother, Eugenia, also gets to chime in and she is very much rooted in the past. So while Josephine wants to help their one remaining servant - Lizzie, their former enslaved field hand - her mother wants her to resume calling on neighbors and looking for a husband. I definitely sympathized a lot with Josephine, who seem to see the realities of their new life and who was willing to change so that they could survive. Her mother just kept thinking about the past and whining about what she didn't have anymore, which was annoying. Their lives all change yet again when a Yankee named Alexander sets up an office of the Freedman's bureau. Lizzie is excited about the prospect of her children going to school. Eugenia is horrified. And Josephine is intrigued by Alexander and his strange new ideas. The resulting twists and turns are pleasant enough to follow, and the themes of embracing the changes that move us toward God was pleasant. However I thought the ending was very contrived and implausible for the time period. My final verdict I guess would be that this historical romance was kind of a mixed bag for me - some good parts and characters that I enjoyed, but I did not find it very believable. ( )