Touched with Fire by Christopher Datta
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Historical novels based on the Civil War flood the market, but in spite of that, it seems that it is still an often misunderstood time period in U.S. history. Unfortunately, most Civil War novels don’t often contribute to the overall discussion and understanding of this time period. This book does not fall into that category! It is fresh, well-written, and painstakingly researched. From the first page, I was immersed in this book. I was even more intrigued when I discovered this was inspired by a true story. While it veers from the original, it is accurate to the period and even contains genuine battles, people, and regiments.
There are no bedroom scenes, but a plethora of profanity is used within the book. While I could have done without that, all profanity is used as it would have been back then. It is my position that the author has included it to give even more realism to the story. For the most part, I was able to overlook it.
The thing that struck me the most was the treatment of slaves and half-slaves. I made the comment to my mom that too many modern African-Americans have no idea what a tremendous price was paid for their freedom. It did not begin with MLK; it is a battle that has claimed countless lives and is still being fought to this day. I cannot begin to fathom what horrors were experienced by innumerable silent martyrs.
I was vaguely familiar with the fact of women disguising themselves as men to serve in the War, but this book gave a face to this fleeting trivia. Again, had brave men and women not died for our country, it boggles the mind to even conceive of where we would be today!
I was sent a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. I was not financially compensated, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.
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