The Rebel Wife
Brimming with atmosphere and edgy suspense, The Rebel Wife presents a young widow trying to survive in the violent world of Reconstruction Alabama, where the old gentility masks continuing violence fueled by hatred, treachery, and still powerful secrets. Augusta Branson was born into antebellum...
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Brimming with atmosphere and edgy suspense, The Rebel Wife presents a young widow trying to survive in the violent world of Reconstruction Alabama, where the old gentility masks continuing violence fueled by hatred, treachery, and still powerful secrets. Augusta Branson was born into antebellum Southern nobility during a time of wealth and prosperity, but now she is left standing in the ashes of a broken civilization. When her scalawag husband dies suddenly of a mysterious illness, she must fend for herself and her young son. Slowly she begins to wake to the reality of her new life: her social standing is stained by her marriage; she is alone and unprotected in a community that is being destroyed by racial prejudice and violence; the fortune she thought she would inherit does not exist; and the deadly fever that killed her husband is spreading fast. Augusta needs someone to trust if she and her son are to escape. As she summons the courage to cross the boundaries of hate, The Rebel Wife presents an unforgettable heroine for our time.
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Format: paperback
ISBN:
9781451629521 (1451629524)
Publish date: September 4th 2012
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages no: 320
Edition language: English
Category:
Novels,
History,
Literature,
Book Club,
American,
Historical Fiction,
Adult,
War,
American History,
19th Century,
Southern,
Military History,
Civil War
The Rebel Wife was ok. I enjoyed the setting, which Polites described so well, and I loved the post Civil War era in which the story took place, but I just didn't like reading the story in present tense/first person. Blah! Now, that's not to say that Taylor Polites did not write a likeable, readable...
There were numerous things that I enjoyed about this book. First off, there was a light gothic feeling to it which I think is typical for the period it was written. Second, I love historical fiction novels which are, obviously, well researched and this one was. Third, the characters were well develo...
This book starts out well enough: it’s reasonably well-written and has good descriptions and a vivid depiction of life in Reconstruction-era Alabama. Nevertheless, I wound up quite disliking it; this seems like a novel that would appeal to a certain subset of historical fiction readers, but not to e...
I must get one thing off my chest at the outset. Once again, I find myself very frustrated by how women were treated in the past. In our present times, when a woman's husband dies, she has rights. In most cases, she is the executor of her husband's estate and is usually the beneficiary of the lif...
Very good tale of awakening in the old South. The narrating style is a little halting, but that is the only fault I could find in this well written book. Every page continues to weave an intricate and ever deepening tale of deception and humanity.
13 years ago
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