I'm celebrating the publication of Book 3 in my American Civil War Brides series, Ursula's Inheritance. This one was born of readers' request to know if Ursula's young marriage to soldier and sometimes spy Rowan Buckley will survive the war that brought them together in Mercies of the Fallen (Book 2). At the end of that novel, they had decided to wait until the war was over to decide if they would continue their lives together.
I thought finding each other after the New York City Draft Riots of 1863 and Rowan assisting at the birth of his (surprise!) son, would be enough of an answer. Reader's disagreed! And they were worried!!
They will get their answer, and their links to both Book 1 (Seven Aprils) and Book 2 (Mercies of the Fallen) in this one! They will learn some little known facts about the Civil War too. Did you know that: New York City was full of spies and "Copperheads" (Southern sympathizers)? That African American troops once trained on the now infamous Rikers Island? That there was a prosperous and accomplished community of African Americans called Weeksville in Brooklyn? That Southern arsonists tried to burn the city down in 1864?
I had to dig hard in Ursula's past for this one. What did I find? that she is the woman that Hannah Gadsby describes in her wonderful quote from Nanette : "There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."
I hope, dear readers, you will agree, as you discover who is hiding behind that fan on the cover of Ursula's Inheritance!