Title: The Sunflower Sisters
Author: Kelly, Martha Hall
Published: 2021
Call #: FIC Kelly
http://pclib.polarislibrary.com/view.aspx?author=hall&title=sunflower
The story is told from three women’s perspectives during the Civil War. Georgeanna Woolsey, who is a nurse and has a large family of sisters and one brother, and the wish to start a school for nurses. Anne-May Wilson, mistress of a plantation and slaves, whose husband enlists. Jemma, one of the Wilson’s slaves who is sold and then conscripted to the army and desperately wants to get her mother and twin sister away from Wilson’s.
“Georgey” and her sister Eliza are nurses who work on hospital ships and in tents close to the battlefields. They fight against prejudice from the doctors and male nurses they work for and with.
Anne-May keeps a journal of information about battles and other things she hears and she has Jemma write it to cover up her involvement. She is a spy for the Confederacy. She passes this information to a store owner in the town who uses Anne-May and provides her with snuff that she is increasingly addicted too.
Jemma hides the journal and Anne-May tears her house up trying to find it. Jemma says she has hidden it in plain sight. At the end of the book, we find out where.
The story is both sweeping and intimate. From New York City to Washington, DC where the sisters meet President Lincoln to the battle of Gettysburg and the plantations of Maryland.
The time of the Civil War is richly drawn. The characters, including the secondary characters, are complex and compelling. There is romance, adventure, spies, page-turning action, and danger all mixed together to make a great read.
Michaelle S.
Popular Materials Asst.