AMAZON UK £3.99 £7.84
AMAZON CA $6.71
Family drama
1800s / American Civil
war
US
Cecile ('Ceci') Prejean
is a fourteen year old tomboy, much to the annoyance of her plantation owner
father. He assigns his Creole slave Hecubah to teach her the ways of a lady.
This she achieves and a ball is held for Ceci's eighteenth birthday, where she
meets – or, rather, re-meets – handsome Trent Sinclaire, a graduate from West
Point. The inevitable happens and just a few weeks before their wedding, civil war breaks out and Trent is recalled to take his place as Lieutenant in the
Union army.
When Ceci's widower
father and her sister are killed accidentally in New Orleans, she is approached
by Henry Doucet, spy-master to the Confederate army. Ceci and three other
girls are trained and given the names of birds as their call signs: Ceci's is
Whippoorwill.
This fast-paced story
deals well with the use of female spies by both sides and Ceci's transformation
from tomboy to efficient spy is interesting. For me, Hecubah is the outstanding
character – world weary, wise and funny.
The cover cleverly shows
Ceci both in 'Southern Belle' and Southern spy mode with an additional image of
her and Trent. I found, however, that my imagination was stretched somewhat with Hecubah's sudden and dramatic reappearance into the story, and there were one
or two minor niggles for this Brit reader, particularly with the use of American
South-type dialogue, but nevertheless this will be of interest to the many fans
of the American Civil War and romance of the ‘Gone With the Wind’ era genre.
© Richard Tearle
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