If you have the nerve to title your book in obvious homage to LeCarre's classic Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, then you better be good . . . it is.
Belle Boyd: 17yo Virginian and lover of the South is one volatile young woman. When the first Union soldiers came to Martinsburg, one unfortunate made a pass at her only to take a bullet in his neck for his impertinence.
Rose O'Neal Greenhow is a southern widow living in Washington, DC who hates the incoming President and flirts/seduces any number of power brokers who might have information that might be helpful to Army of Northern Virginia.
Emma Edmonds is a Canadian who feels compelled to put on a uniform and fight. Being a woman means she must hide her gender as well as her affection for two fellow soldiers. At various times over the duration of the war, Emma serves in hospitals, as a mail carrier, and as a spy who managed to easily infiltrate the enemy's defenses.
Elizabeth Van Lew is a transplanted northerner living in the Confederate capital and an avowed abolitionist. She openly cares for Union prisoners of war in the deadliest of Richmond's prisons and, like Greenhow, builds up a network of trusted allies to obtain and deliver information to the Union.
Belle developed a reputation as a hell raiser and hero when she sprinted across the battlefield to give Stonewall Jackson critical information about the Union forces and their strength. Greenhow supplied a constant stream of information that helped the South win its early battles with ease, 1st Bull Run in particular. She becomes a bit of a celebrity and the focus of close study by the Pinkertons, finally ending in jail. Her imprisonment led to her being a living martyr to those who believe in the cause. Edmonds toils mostly in secret, struggling to keep her true identity quiet even in the face of what, in another time, could blossom into real relationships. Van Lew openly flaunts her favor with the North to her snooty Southern neighbors even placing one of her employees in Jefferson Davis' household staff.
And lest one think this is simply a series of spy craft stories set in the Civil War, Abbott takes great pains to go well beyond and presents the carnage and inhumanity so prevalent during the war. Treatment of prisoners is so horrific, making the concentration camp images of Schindler's List seen downright tame. The blood lust of soldiers when winning a battle may make some readers audibly gasp, especially when collecting their spoils of war from the still breathing (not for long) enemy.
There is one thing that makes this copiously researched book so fascinating and captivating . . .
it's true . . . all of it.
available from Amazon
East Coast Don
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