Review: ‘Sunflower Sisters’ Revisits the Civil War

From its title, Sunflower Sisters by Martha Hall Kelly sounds like it could be happy-smiley-giggly “women’s fiction,” doesn’t it? Perhaps a lot of fashion, romance and swooning? Nope. I don’t really like those books anyway. This one I couldn’t put down.

The book is set in North/South border states, major cities and battlefields from 1859 to 1864, just before and during the Civil War. We watch events pan out from the point of view of several different characters: Georgy Woolsey, part of a large family living comfortably in New York; Jemma, a slave trying to survive the godawful system and get away if she can; and Anne-Marie, a young, just-married Southern belle who owns Jemma, among other slaves, and is entirely self-concerned. And I do mean “entirely.”