All Things New

This book doesn't have the action of some others, but is extremely well written and thought provoking. Josephine is a young woman who has been raised in privilege her whole life and this is suddenly stripped away at the end of the Civil War. She is angry and hurt that God didn't answer her prayers that the South would win and her father and brothers would return to her. She lost a father and brother in the war and nothing can ever be the same again. She is forced to look at things differently as she watches her plantation home begin to deteriorate and begins listening to the words of a Yankee who has been sent to help people begin living again in this changed world. She must address the question of whether God listens and answers prayers, all the while she has been thinking God didn't answer her prayer, she has forgotten that perhaps God had answered the prayers of the thousands of negroes who were suffering, or the families of the Union soldiers. The characters in this book all feel very real and the book flows very nicely without being cluttered or confusing.

In the closing days of the American Civil War, the inhabitants of Richmond, Virginia, are packing up their belongings to flee for their lives in advance of the invading Yankee army. Josephine Weatherly of White Oak Plantation, aged 22, has lost her father, her brother, and her faith in God during the war. Her mother, Eugenia, has lost an entire way of life and must work out how to hold her home and family together in this new world. Lizzie was a slave the plantation who is now free, but has no idea what that means. The story is told in the third person, alternating between the viewpoints of these three characters. I immediately liked Jo and Lizzie, but found Eugenia very annoying. She was nave, expecting everything to return to how it was before the war, although I did come to admire the way she slowly began to think and act for herself, rather than relying on the old ways. Lynn Austin's previous Civil War series (Refiner's Fire) told the story of the War Between The States from the point of view of a Southern woman, a Northern woman and a slave, and the books were outstanding (if you haven't read them, then do. Two of the three won Christy Awards). All Things New was good, but not great. The writing was excellent, but was let down by too many characters and too many subplots. I thought the three points of view were almost trying to do too much: perhaps this would have been better as three separate books. \\r\\n\\r\\nThanks to Baker Publishing and Netgalley for providing a…