Cut to the Heart
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $6.99
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
Inspired by the true heroism of legendary nurse Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, award-winning author Ava Dianne Day weaves a suspenseful blend of fact and fiction in a gripping historical thriller set against the violent upheavals of the Civil War.
Assigned to Hilton Head Island, headquarters of the Union Army in the South, Clara Barton finds herself in a limbo that is neither battlefield nor hospital. Here, among emancipated former slaves, Barton must look after wounded Colonel John Elwell--and learn all she can about the community’s folk medicine. But while she longs to return to the front line, she soon discovers the isolated settlement has perils of its own.
As Clara’s suspicions escalate, historical events propel the “Angel of the Battlefield” toward a confrontation as old as time itself. On one side stands Clara Barton, the epitome of goodness and humanity; on the other, a sociopath possessed of a mind as brilliant as it is depraved.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this atmospheric thriller set in 1863 amid the Gullah communities off the South Carolina coast, the author of the delightful Fremont Jones mysteries (The Strange Files of Fremont Jones; Fire and Fog; etc.) has real-life Union nurse Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, playing detective as well as ministering to the sick and wounded. Day has a wonderful ability to evoke the past, here the world of Hilton Head Island with its eerie swamps and Gullah people with their distinctive folk medicine and customs. As the fight for Charleston heats up, Clara is working with the local poor until she again receives the call to go to the battlefield. As ever, she is beset by male, military and doctoral prejudice. In addition, her brother, David, a Union officer, is on hand trying to make a wife and mother of her, totally unable to understand the life of dedication to others that she's chosen to lead. And, unbeknownst to Clara, a sinister surgeon, the demented Dr. Chamberlain, is tracking her every move and awaiting his chance to avenge himself on her for reasons that even he's unclear about. Day tastefully and effectively handles Clara's romantic interest in another real-life figure, Colonel John Elwell, who joins the suicidal assault on the rebel redoubt, Battery Wagner. Although this obvious labor of love doesn't contain much mystery or suspense, Day's fans should relish it, along with readers who appreciate well-researched historical novels.
