Not much thought is given as to how devastating the Civil War was on the home front, especially to the females who had to do the men’s work when they went off to war. But what of the children who were orphaned?
Sixteen-year-old Sadie Penwell
witnesses her parents’ murders at the hands of Confederate Bushwhackers in
rural Missouri in 1863. Driven by revenge, she cuts her hair, puts on her Pa’s
clothes, and joins the Union Army. Having blessedly been taught how to handle a
gun, Sadie is immediately assigned to General Sherman as a sharpshooter. After
being stalked by an
obsessed neighbor, losing friend after friend, the psychological torture of
kill or be killed, and experiencing the battle of Resaca, she realizes no one truly wins in war.
A story of courage, determination, patriotism… and glory lost.
Joyce Shaughnessy has published five books in the last
seventeen years. The first three — A Healing Place, Blessed
Are the Merciful, and The Unsurrendered
— are romantic historical fiction based upon the Dust Bowl in the Great
Depression and WWII in the Pacific. They reflect her love of history and
historical fiction. A children’s book, Mr. Grumpy Lizard Meets the
Giggling Girls, is based on her four granddaughters, which her husband
illustrated. And most recently, she participated in a round-robin fantasy
novel, Gryffon Master. She is represented by Jeanie
Loiacono.
