Kim Murphy's second U.S. Civil War novel, HONOR & GLORY, takes a roller coaster ride of a journey through smuggling, war prisons, battle wounds, sickness, childbirth, and other tests of endurance--while at the same time depicting the joys and hopes of both Northerners and Southerners who lived and loved during the turbulent time period.
The novel opens after the bloody Battle of Fredericksburg in 1862 and focuses on two Virginian sisters, Amanda and Alice, the former of whom has experienced both widowhood and a new marriage since the war's start. Alice, the younger sister, finds difficulty in accepting her new brother-in-law's background and position in the war--and falls for a former love interest of Amanda's. Despite the familial tension, the two women's relationship grows stronger as they themselves gain strength, shedding Victorian morals and delicacies to do their part in helping ailing soldiers...and to protect their own lives and properties as the war stretches to 1865.
Each central character experiences dark depths of anguish at some point in the novel, yet Murphy also portrays supreme moments of joy that help them persevere and rise above their physical and/or emotional pain. Alice especially stands out as an exceptional character, transforming from a frivolous young lady to a multilayered, heroic woman. And the novel offers one of the most heart-stopping escape scenes ever written.
Either read with its predecessor, PROMISE & HONOR, or standing alone, HONOR & GLORY is an entertaining and emotional example of historical fiction at its finest.
