Sunflower Sisters (Kelly)

Jemma lives on Peeler Plantation with her parents as the property of Ann-May Wilson Watson, whose overseer, LeBaron is a truly evil man. By a strange twist of events the two stories intertwine and The Woolseys end up directly helping Jemma escape from slavery and begin a life of freedom. In Ann-May, the author has created a character that the reader easily comes to dislike, and I spent the entire novel on the edge of my seat as Ann-May attempted to track down and reclaim Jemma.

There were many times when this story was hard to read (in a good way) — hard because the author does not shy away from writing many scenes in detail about the treatment of the slaves, and the reader is reminded that we need to remember history and the fact that there have been many times and practices in the history of our country where not all people were treated as all humans have the right to be treated.

Title: Sunflower Sisters
Series: Lilac Girls #3
Author: Martha Hall Kelly
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Release Date: March 30, 2021
Format: Hardcover, Trade Paperback, eBook, Audio
Pages: 528

Georgeanne "Georgey" Woolsey isn't meant for the world of lavish parties and demure attitudes of women of her stature. So when the war ignites the nation, Georgey follows her passion for nursing during a time when doctors considered women a bother on the battlefront. In proving them wrong, she and her sister Eliza venture from New York to Washington, D.C., to Gettysburg and witness the unparalleled horrors of slavery as they become involved in the war effort.

In the South, Jemma is enslaved on the Peeler Plantation in Maryland, where she lives with her mother and father. Her sister, Patience, is enslaved on the plantation next door and both live in fear of LeBaron, an abusive overseer who tracks their every move. When Jemma is sold by the cruel plantation mistress Anne-May at the same time the Union army comes through, she sees a chance to finally escape--but only by abandoning the family she loves.

Anne-May is left behind to run Peeler Planation when her husband joins the Union Army and her cherished brother enlists with the Confederates. In charge of the household, she uses the opportunity to follow her own ambitions and is drawn into a secret Southern network of spies, finally exposing herself to the fate she deserves.

Inspired by true accounts, Sunflower Sisters provides a vivid, detailed look at the Civil War experience, from the barbaric and inhumane plantations, to a war-torn New York City to the horrors of the battlefield. It's a sweeping story of women caught in a country on the brink of collapse, in a society grappling with nationalism and unthinkable racial cruelty, a story still so relevant today.