Originally Posted by Rainy Day

I've just finished the Union Quilters. I usually love her books, but this one was too heavy on history and war scenes for me. It seems to me that it was inspired by Gone With the Wind, written from a Northern States perspective. There were two female rivals for one man, he (Just like Ashley Wilkes) married one because the family expected it(Just like Melanie WIlkes), and the other(Scarlett O Hara) held a flame for him all through the book. Maybe a Rhett Butler character would have livened it up a bit! I do like a bad boy.
The attitude of the Northern States army to the African Americans was well written, and bought to my mind Scarlett O'Hara thinking about how if the Northerners are so scared of African Americans (not what she called them), then why did they fight a war to free them? For me, this evoked memories of my Great Uncles and Uncles and brothers who fought for Australia in WW1 and WW2, Korea and Vietnam but were not legally citizens of Australia as they were Aboriginal Australians.
I would prefer more character focused writing than a history lesson, and I do love history. Just not war history. I grew up with a father who had been to four wars, and everyone would give him war books for his birthday and christmas. He would quietly donate them to the local Returned Services League. Maybe this is where I get my feelings towards this from?

Anyway, I will buy the next one to see if it is different.