Sunflower Sisters

A Novel

De: Martha Hall Kelly

Narrado por: Saskia Maarleveld, Shayna Small, Jenna Lamia, Cassandra Campbell, Martha Hall Kelly

New York Times best seller

Martha Hall Kelly’s million-copy best seller Lilac Girls introduced listeners to Caroline Ferriday. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of Ferriday’s ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War whose calling leads her to cross paths with Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and conscripted into the army, and Anne-May Wilson, a Southern plantation mistress whose husband enlists.

“An exquisite tapestry of women determined to defy the molds the world has for them.” (Lisa Wingate, number one New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were Yours)

Georgeanna “Georgey” Woolsey isn’t meant for the world of lavish parties and the demure attitudes of women of her stature. So when war ignites the nation, Georgey follows her passion for nursing during a time when doctors considered women on the battlefront a bother. In proving them wrong, she and her sister Eliza venture from New York to Washington, DC, to Gettysburg and witness the unparalleled horrors of slavery as they become involved in the war effort.

In the South, Jemma is enslaved on the Peeler Plantation in Maryland, where she lives with her mother and father. Her sister, Patience, is enslaved on the plantation next door, and both live in fear of LeBaron, an abusive overseer who tracks their every move. When Jemma is sold by the cruel plantation mistress Anne-May at the same time the Union army comes through, she sees a chance to finally escape - but only by abandoning the family she loves.

Anne-May is left behind to run Peeler Plantation when her husband joins the Union army and her cherished brother enlists with the Confederates. In charge of the household, she uses the opportunity to follow her own ambitions and is drawn into a secret Southern network of spies, finally exposing herself to the fate she deserves.

Inspired by true accounts, Sunflower Sisters provides a vivid, detailed look at the Civil War experience, from the barbaric and inhumane plantations, to a war-torn New York City, to the horrors of the battlefield. It’s a sweeping story of women caught in a country on the brink of collapse, in a society grappling with nationalism and unthinkable racial cruelty, a story still so relevant today.

©2021 Martha Hall Kelly (P)2021 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A beautifully written, intricately researched window into the lives of women in a world we can scarcely imagine today.... Sunflower Sisters took me on a journey that swept me up in its pages and left me pondering deeper truths in the end. It’s a read filled with sisterhood, risk, reward, and plenty of fodder for book clubs.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Kelly’s prose flows beautifully across every page, bringing to life the women impacted by the horrific war that tore apart the country and countless families.... Much of Sunflower Sisters is heartbreaking...but there is also much hope and joy in the courage, fortitude and victories of those courageous and determined to succeed and survive.” (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

“A well-researched, realistic narrative.... It’s the women and their activism that tell the story of the struggle to end slavery. They become the real heroes of the war. Kelly tells this story without either romanticizing or sweeping over the horrors that split the nation in the nineteenth century and continues to do so today.” (The Spokesman-Review)

A great reminder of our greatest weaknesses and strength

This was a wonderful book and was very well performed. Many parts are hard to hear, but are important. The characters are well developed and are very real, and you understand their motivations. This book does a great job demonstrating how people can excuse away bad behavior. Racism is well described in this book and shows a great spectrum of how it can appear (some unfortunately will sound all too familiar in modern days). This novel is a great reminder of our terrible history, the struggles to do better, and the rewards of perseverance.

Another great Wolsey story

I enjoyed this very much. The characters inspire me! Excellent writing! It helped me feel as though I know them and as if I were there.

Well worth listening to!

It was a little drawn out at times, but overall it was a great story and I loved the ending! And learned more about history, as there’s a lot of non-fiction in this book as well. The authors comments at the end of book are awesome, love how she explained the likeness of characters in the book to real life history!

Outstanding

Love historical fiction and this is one of the best series. I love the way each of the books is intertwined by the characters. Made the reality of the CivilWar and the horrors of slavery Come to life and gave me as a reader a deeper understanding into that time. Well done and thank you to the author.

Historically accurate characters

The characters draw you in slowly but steadily. The Woosy family is a real family with much of the events described actual events in their lives. Jemma’s fictional story is intertwined around these actual events.

Fabulous story

I would recommend this book to all who love southern and northern stories. True stories made it even more pleasurable

Book 3 is the beginning

Wonderful end of the series which is actually the beginning of a live of women from a family. I always have a hard time getting into this author's books. But once I'm in it I'm hooked and read them several times. I've not yet been disappointed.

wonderful!

absolutely loved this book. one of the best I have ever read. narration was superb!!

Very Well Written and Performed

Worth the listen. It was so hard to stop listening. The speakers did a wonderful job of bringing the story to life!

Outstanding story

Story and narration was terrific- going to read the whole series. Tempo and characters well researched and executed