Once upon a time I loved a silly Civil War movie called "Gone With the Wind." I was a kid and didn't really understand the magnitude of the cheesy or the drama of Scarlet O'Hara, but I definitely loved the costumes. I also had a super secret crush on Ashley (who didn't?). When it came time to leave for college, I was lucky to attend a university in southern Virginia aka Civil War Country. Once again, my fascination for the Civil War and all the intricacies of the actual event, not Hollywood's version, came to life. I even took a Civil War class one semester that was easily the most difficult and fabulous class I took in all of my college career. Knowing this, it goes without being said that I was instantly drawn to this book because of my love of Civil War history. Remember me sharing some of those fun details about the class in THIS BLOG POST???
The setting for "The Rebel Wife" is post-Civil War Alabama. Our main character, Augusta Branson, opens the book, by losing her husband to a mysterious death....likely the fever from the extreme heat. Augusta aka Gus Is faced with a long list of personal dilemmas following the death of her husband. She is a widowed white woman so she doesn't have the right to own property or vote. She is young so she has a lot to learn and last, but certainly not least, she's not really sure she actually ever loved her husband in the first place so why should she be sad?
The author presented a lot of thematic struggles in the plot. Augusta is a strong female character who struggles with her conscious on numerous items. Her own father was very well-respected by his slaves and as a result there are a lot of people in their community who don't respect Augusta because of it. She is constantly battling with her emotions and how she should really feel about the freed slaves who still work on her property. Many of them have been with their family since her childhood so they are more of a family than the biological family in front of her. Ultimately, Augusta finds that she can trust her devoted slaves more than the Caucasian people around her. This point definitely provided much food for thought in comparison to modern day. Equality definitely has made progress, but we have a long way to go as far as I'm concerned.
There is an element of mystery in this book which is what initially drew me to the plot line. There are some items that Augusta and her family are desperately looking for and the slaves know that as soon as these items are found they have a free ticket to leave. This definitely causes tension in the plot and I liked it. Along with the element of mystery there is definitely a lot of plot development centered around the superiority of men vs. women. I can't say that I threw the book accross the room because of jerky, condescending male characters, but I came close. I'll also add that I'm most grateful to live in a time when I can vote.
One of the main thematic elements I found quite interesting was the talk about post-war emotions and what war did to people's mental health. I'm a junkie for historical fiction set in times of war because, almost always, the topic of mental health and courage has to come up. This book was no different. We meet a couple of characters who have come back from the war-front completely messed up. Disastrous alcoholics and depressed men who once loved Augusta. It's downright sad and the drama of it all is portrayed well. And once again, I'm glad I live when I do. I couldn't handle the lack of knowledge surrounding mental health. No. Way. No. How.
My recommended reading group would be age 16 and above. It's a PG-13 read with racial, political and social struggles that might not be understood by a younger audience.
The moral of the story: Sometimes hope is all that we can hold on to when the horizon is bright, but we aren't quite sure how we will get there.
Happy reading, my amazing, geeky lovelies!
-R
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