This is one of those books that a person picks up and feels comfortable with immediately. The story is compelling and the characters are very likeable; this is one of my favorite reading eras: the Civil War. The reader is in the grip of the problem from page 1.
Its February 1865 and Union prisoners are being held in Libby Prison; conditions are abysmal and the men are dying. A young soldier named Ward is seriously ill with a high fever; without a poultice, he will die. The aging doctor was to have returned a day earlier and now things are at a critical stage.
His niece, Meredith Carter, arrives and applies the poultice to Wards gravely injured arm. While there, she hears that the soldiers are going to make a break in the night. Rafferty is furious but accepts her promise that she will not tell.
Meredith and her uncle are both Southern sympathizers. Rafferty warns Meredith that he is one of the best trackers in the Army and if anything happens, he will hunt her down. Of course, the break-out is discovered and 17 men are killed. Rafferty escapes and promises justice for the dead men.
The next chapter opens in April 1866. Meredith and her uncle, the doctor, have moved to Texas. Her uncle has recently died but she carries on in the small town. She is the closest thing to a doctor for 100 miles.
Although it has been 2 years and she has moved 1000 miles from Richmond, Virginia, Meredith has never forgotten Rafferty and his threat. The rest of the book is about Meredith trying to convince a determined man (Rafferty) that she would never have betrayed his trust. He has a warrant to take her back to Washington, DC, to face a trial for treason and he plans to escort her there.
The only problem with the story was there werent enough suspects to carry the suspense. If Meredith wasnt guilty, there were less than a handful of possible culprits.
This is a really quick book to read; possibly because Meredith and Rafferty were such strong people, set against a turbulent time in Americas past.
Its February 1865 and Union prisoners are being held in Libby Prison; conditions are abysmal and the men are dying. A young soldier named Ward is seriously ill with a high fever; without a poultice, he will die. The aging doctor was to have returned a day earlier and now things are at a critical stage.
His niece, Meredith Carter, arrives and applies the poultice to Wards gravely injured arm. While there, she hears that the soldiers are going to make a break in the night. Rafferty is furious but accepts her promise that she will not tell.
Meredith and her uncle are both Southern sympathizers. Rafferty warns Meredith that he is one of the best trackers in the Army and if anything happens, he will hunt her down. Of course, the break-out is discovered and 17 men are killed. Rafferty escapes and promises justice for the dead men.
The next chapter opens in April 1866. Meredith and her uncle, the doctor, have moved to Texas. Her uncle has recently died but she carries on in the small town. She is the closest thing to a doctor for 100 miles.
Although it has been 2 years and she has moved 1000 miles from Richmond, Virginia, Meredith has never forgotten Rafferty and his threat. The rest of the book is about Meredith trying to convince a determined man (Rafferty) that she would never have betrayed his trust. He has a warrant to take her back to Washington, DC, to face a trial for treason and he plans to escort her there.
The only problem with the story was there werent enough suspects to carry the suspense. If Meredith wasnt guilty, there were less than a handful of possible culprits.
This is a really quick book to read; possibly because Meredith and Rafferty were such strong people, set against a turbulent time in Americas past.
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