With This Pledge

Every time a Tamera Alexander books becomes available to review, I have to read it. So, when With This Pledge came up in my TBR pile and I pulled it up on my kindle and began to read.  I had read the "jacket blurb" and let it pass through my mind like through a sieve. So when I got into the book itself, I was in for a bit of a surprise.  Tamera has done her research well, this is truly an historical novel, there are real people and real events depicted in the novel.  Saying that, I must caution readers that this book isn't for the faint of heart.  The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee, is described in gory detail--especially in the aftermath of the battle, where the wounded soldiers are triaged. 

Lizzie Coulston is living with the McGavrock (sp?) family in the Carnton Mansion as a governess to their two young children, Hattie and Winder.  After the Battle of Franklin, Carnton Mansion was commandeered as a hospital for the men wounded in the battle. The doctor impresses on Lizzie to be his assistant for the surgeries he had to perform.  Through her work with the doctor, she met Captain Roland Jones and feels something for him from the very beginning, even though she had promised to marry someone else. 

Captain Jones is from Yalobusha, Mississippi, and owns a plantation and slaves.  Because of Lizzie's beliefs, they butt heads about the rightness and wrongness of owning slaves.  Lizzie is intelligent in her arguments and faithful to her beliefs. She gives Capt Jones plenty of fodder for thought. 

Lizzie is a girl who goes against the times and does  what she thinks is right, society be hanged.  Roland is a man who is used to the creature comforts and the riches that slavery brings him.  He prides himself on being fair and gentle with his slaves, but that doesn't change Lizzie's mind.

I have to say this is a five star book with two thumbs up, and a soda biscuit for your tea.

My thanks to Thomas Nelson for providing this book through NetGalley for me to read and review.