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A review by zena_ryder
Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War by Karen Abbott
5.0
This book is brilliant! If you have even a passing interest in the American Civil War, you will love it. It reaches fiction levels of readability. The characters are well drawn and the stories of the four main women (and supporting characters) are told very well, with plenty of exciting cliffhangers. This book should be made into a movie, so more people can learn about these fascinating people.
Elizabeth Van Lew is my particular favourite. Her network of spies was extensive and very valuable to the Union. As well as visiting Union soldiers held prisoner at Libby prison in Richmond — which was itself a risky thing to do, that made her vulnerable to suspicion — she smuggled information out of the prison. She hid escaped prisoners in her house, and helped them escape back to the North. She received "invisible ink" letters from the Union. And, while engaging in these activities, she also had to have the prison commander, John Henry Winder, live in her house for some time!
I would love to know more about Mary Jane Richards/Bowser, who was a spy in the Confederate White House. She had been a servant — that's not a euphemism for slave in this case, she was an actual paid servant — of Van Lew before she agreed to spy on Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, and report back to Van Lew. She was assumed to be illiterate, so the president's secret documents were not hidden from her, and she seems to have had an amazing memory for their contents, and for conversations she overheard. I did appreciate Abbott's epilogue in which she wraps up Mary Jane's story, telling us that after the war she went on to teach newly freed slaves, and eventually founded a school for them. Looking into Mary Jane's story online after finishing the book, it seems that there isn't too much more reliable information about her, unfortunately.
In many cases, I find that historical fiction is an "easier" gateway to learning more about historical figures, before reading non-fiction about them (and learning how the fiction differed from history). However, in the case of Van Lew, reading this book is much better than reading the fictional account in Jennifer Chiaverini's book, The Spymistress.
I recommend Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy very highly.
Elizabeth Van Lew is my particular favourite. Her network of spies was extensive and very valuable to the Union. As well as visiting Union soldiers held prisoner at Libby prison in Richmond — which was itself a risky thing to do, that made her vulnerable to suspicion — she smuggled information out of the prison. She hid escaped prisoners in her house, and helped them escape back to the North. She received "invisible ink" letters from the Union. And, while engaging in these activities, she also had to have the prison commander, John Henry Winder, live in her house for some time!
I would love to know more about Mary Jane Richards/Bowser, who was a spy in the Confederate White House. She had been a servant — that's not a euphemism for slave in this case, she was an actual paid servant — of Van Lew before she agreed to spy on Jefferson Davis, the Confederate president, and report back to Van Lew. She was assumed to be illiterate, so the president's secret documents were not hidden from her, and she seems to have had an amazing memory for their contents, and for conversations she overheard. I did appreciate Abbott's epilogue in which she wraps up Mary Jane's story, telling us that after the war she went on to teach newly freed slaves, and eventually founded a school for them. Looking into Mary Jane's story online after finishing the book, it seems that there isn't too much more reliable information about her, unfortunately.
In many cases, I find that historical fiction is an "easier" gateway to learning more about historical figures, before reading non-fiction about them (and learning how the fiction differed from history). However, in the case of Van Lew, reading this book is much better than reading the fictional account in Jennifer Chiaverini's book, The Spymistress.
I recommend Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy very highly.