Sunflower Sisters
I'm a huge fan of Martha Hall Kelly and her two previous works have stayed with me long after I finished them. Therefore, I was so excited to receive a copy of her latest and final book of the Lilac Girls series. I have dreaded seeing this series come to an end, so I tried to take my time and savor this story, but of course that means I just flew through it in no time.
Lilac Girls introduced readers to Caroline Ferriday, an American philanthropist who helped young girls released from Ravensbruck concentration camp. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of her ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse who joins the war effort during the Civil War, and how her calling leads her to cross paths with Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and conscripted into the army, and Ann-May Wilson, a southern plantation mistress whose husband enlists.
Georgeanne "Georgey" Woolsey isn't meant for the world of lavish parties and demure attitudes of women of her stature. So when the war ignites the nation, Georgey follows her passion for nursing during a time when doctors considered women a bother on the battlefront. In proving them wrong, she and her sister Eliza venture from New York to Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg and witness the unparalleled horrors of slavery as they become involved in the war effort.
In the South, Jemma is enslaved on the Peeler Plantation in Maryland, where she lives with her mother and father. Her sister, Patience, is enslaved on the plantation next door and both live in fear of LeBaron, an abusive overseer who tracks their every move. When Jemma is sold by the cruel plantation mistress Anne-May at the same time the Union army comes through, she sees a chance to finally escape--but only by abandoning the family she loves.
Anne-May is left behind to run Peeler Planation when her husband joins the Union Army and her cherished brother enlists with the Confederates. In charge of the household, she uses the opportunity to follow her own ambitions and is drawn into a secret Southern network of spies, finally exposing herself to the fate she deserves.
Sunflower Sisters is based on real life events, and I immediately fell in love with this story full of rich details. With Sunflower Sisters, the story of this family continues backward to the Civil War, with Georgeanna Wolsey, a Union nurse who meets Jemma, a girl who is enslaved and later conscripted into the army.
The time in which the story takes place is brutal in every way. A civil war and slavery are just that, brutal and horrifying. Time is spent on the battlefield, in hospitals, and on plantations. Martha Hall Kelly’s novels are detailed and immersive, perfect for historical fiction fans. I absolutely love how she’s explored the strong women in this family, and the strong women around them as well.
