Well Crafted Work of Fiction ~ To Whisper Her Name by Tamera Alexander ~ Review

I have enjoyed all of the author’s previous titles, especially her Colorado historicals, but I have to say, this latest Southern antebellum novel in “To Whisper Her Name” evoked a love for southern fiction I didn’t know I possessed.

            The novel is rich and to be savored. I read the story slowly, not because it didn’t thoroughly capture my attention, but only because it didn’t feel right to blaze through for the sake of simply reading. I fell in love with the characters as they fell in love with each other. Something I think only an excellent author can accomplish over nearly five hundred pages.

          

  There is a tapestry of love and grace and finesse through every single page that brings the characters and reader together, directly into the heart of the story. There was no doubt the place I sat while I reading this story: the veranda of the Belle Meade.

           

Olivia and Ridley are dynamic characters. The Belle Meade a place of rich extravagance. The voice of the novel a gripping delicacy. Description doesn’t rule the novel, which is one thing I appreciated about it…I saw the characters interacting with their surroundings and it worked. Every single word of this novel simply…worked.

           

I’m impressed, grateful and eager for the next novel in this Belle Meade series. A well-crafted work of fiction!

            

This review is my honest opinion. Thanks to the publishers for my copy to review.  

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

More about the novel...

Olivia Aberdeen, destitute widow of a murdered carpetbagger, gratefully accepts an invitation from “Aunt” Elizabeth Harding, mistress of Belle Meade Plantation and the dearest friend of Olivia’s late mother. Expecting to be the Harding’s housekeeper, Olivia is disillusioned once again when she learns the real reason why Elizabeth’s husband, Confederate General William Giles Harding, agreed to her coming. Caring for an ill Aunt Elizabeth, Olivia is caught off guard by her feelings for Ridley Adam Cooper, a southern-born son who—unbeknownst to her and everyone else—fought for the Union. Determined to learn “the gift” that Belle Meade’s head horse trainer, Bob Green, possesses, Ridley is a man desperate to end the war still raging inside him while harboring secrets that threaten his life. As Ridley seeks to make peace within himself for “betraying” the South he loved, Olivia is determined to never be betrayed again… 

Set within the remarkable history of Nashville’s historic Belle Meade Plantation, comes a story about enslavement and freedom, arrogance and humility, and the power of love to heal even the deepest of wounds.