'The Spy Lover' Book Review

'TheAmerica's Civil War

has been depicted & romanticized in countless epics. Most mentions of it bring to mind The North & The South and the end of slavery. In the majority of these epics, famous leaders get the limelight. 'The Spy Lover' by Pushcart Prize & O. Henry Award winner, Kianna Davenport, is about new, fictional Civil War participants.

Era Tom, daughter of a Chinese immigrant, is tending to the wounded in a Confederate camp. Johnny, her father, is a P.O.W. Warren, a wounded Confederate soldier, is under Era's care.

From Johnny, we learn about his traumatic childhood as well as the atrocities of being a POW.

We learn of the racism he encounters & catch a glimpse of the horrors of the POW camps.

Warren, who writes letters home, mentions such things as typhoid & wormy beef. He reminisces of historical battles & we're told of the impact from events that we've no doubt heard of. Era's story deals not just with the physical impact of war as she medicates severed limbs & infections, but of the emotional turmoil she must endure. She's unaware that her father is a war prisoner. She believes he's just missing.

Warren also has made himself a home in her heart. Can she & Warren hope to make a life in war torn America?

Will she reunite with her dad? How will Johnny react to Warren?

Romantics will no doubt enjoy this novel. Civil War buffs will appreciate its raw & authentic walk through the eyes of a soldier.

It was a little much for me. The plot is good. The characters are believeable. The historical accuracy was solid. I love historical fiction as a whole. Parts of the book were a bit gritty. I could've done without some of the missing limbs. But, war isn't pretty. It shouldn't be portrayed as pretty. The grittiness is just my personal prefernece. But, there is an audience for it I'm sure.

When the dust settles, I had it a 4 of 5 stars. It's very well-written, just not for me.

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