With This Pledge by Tamera Alexander

With This Pledge by Tamera Alexander
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am a big fan of historical fiction and I love the Civil War era but I wasn't familiar with this particular event until I began reading With This Pledge. The Battle of Franklin, Tennessee was one of the bloodiest battles of the Civil War and author Tamera Alexander has based her story on actual events and real people. Carnton Plantation was located less than a mile from the scene of the battle and wounded soldiers were transported there to be cared for. This beautiful home became a hospital and often a morgue because many of the wounded didn't survive. The author doesn't sugarcoat her story and I felt as though I was there with those soldiers and a witness to Elizabeth "Lizzie" Causen's efforts to treat them. I sensed her feelings of helplessness as she feverishly worked to stop the flow of blood and tried to assure them that they would one day return to their loved ones. I also felt the strong attraction between Lizzie and one of the injured men, Captain Roland Jones. An attraction that they both denied because of his injury and Lizzie's pledge to marry her childhood friend! So many beautiful passages allude to this attraction between them, such as 'She'd found him attractive before, but now.....The features of his face, strong and angular, were more pronounced. And his eyes. They looked an even deeper gray than she remembered."

I loved this amazing story of hope, love, and the ability to find good during the ugliness of war. It spans about one year of Roland and Lizzie's lives but the events that inspired With This Pledge resonate with us today, one hundred fifty-five years later! I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys historical fiction and Christian romance.

I received a complimentary copy from the author and publisher but voluntarily chose to write this review. These opinions are my own.

View all my reviews