Historical fiction at its absolute best! Everhart’s carefully crafted female protagonist shows strength, courage, and resolve in the face of the many cruelties of the Civil War. Joetta McBride is not your usual demure Southern Belle. She refuses to take sides in a conflict she feels has nothing to do with her family, while her oldest son is eager to fight for the Southern cause. Once her son flees to fight for the Confederacy, Joetta’s husband also gets caught up in the fight while searching for their son, leaving Joetta to care for the farm and remaining family on her own. Facing isolation and destruction from the townspeople for offering water to a Union soldier, Joetta deals with grief, starvation, and ruin with grace and grit. Even though she could face dire consequences, she still shows compassion to a young Union soldier who is on the verge of death. Everhart has created a new hero with the unflinching, steadfast, and ever-courageous Joetta McBride!
When the Jessamine Grows by Donna Everhart, (List Price: $17.95, Kensington, 9781496740700, January 2024)
Reviewed by Sharon Davis, Book Bound Bookstore in Blairsville, Georgia