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The Spymistress Jennifer Chiaverini Books

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The Spymistress Jennifer Chiaverini Books

First off, I love history and hold a masters degree in it. But when I pick up an historical novel, I want the history to be illuminated through the story and the characters, a backdrop, as it were, to the historical setting. I do not want a novel that really just wants to relate historical research by tossing in some one dimensional characters who do not have depth or growth and who seem to exist merely to propel the history along. This is how I felt about this book. I felt like I was reading a straight history of an aspect of the civil war when I wanted a novel. My book club agreed with me.

Ms. Chiaverini obviously loves her time period and she did her homework. The book is not badly written. But it lacks life and spark because no characters one can believe in, with depth and real motivation, inhabit these pages. The best historical fiction shows history and real people one can care about: "Gone With The Wind", "Katherine", "Forever Amber", the works of Sharon Penman and the incomparable Dorothy Dunnett. This book was flat and unengaging from start to finish. Even some grand historical momoents (Lincoln's war's end visit to Richmond, for example) are tossed in without life.

Judging by other reviews, I seem to be in the minority about this, but if you read for character more than just the history, as I do, avoid this book. If you don't care about that, go ahead and read it. You will learn something about an interesting slice of history.


Tags : Amazon.com: The Spymistress (9780525953623): Jennifer Chiaverini: Books,Jennifer Chiaverini,The Spymistress,Dutton,0525953620,Historical - General,Literary,Historical fiction.,United States;History;Civil War, 1861-1865;Fiction.,Women spies;Fiction.,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,Civil War, 1861-1865,FICTION Historical General,Fiction,Fiction - Historical,Fiction Historical,Fiction Literary,Fiction-Historical,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical fiction,History,Thrillers - Espionage,United States,Virginia,Women spies,Women's Studies

The Spymistress Jennifer Chiaverini Books Reviews

Well researched book about a woman from Virginia whose political views side with the North. She ends up fighting convention to work in a Union prisoner of war camp. While the author knows her history, it feels as though the dialog is just a way to present it. Stilted, and forced, it was missing excitement or realism. The main character Elizabeth felt flat. While it presented an interesting story of the civil war, the lack of humanity made it feel lifeless.
I loved the Elm Creek Quilt Series books and have bought everyone of them. I have also read the other historical novels of Jennifer, but I was disappointed with this book. It read more like a documentary, then a novel. It lacked the human relationship connections that have made Jennifer's other books so enjoyable to read. I hope Jennifer goes back to her other 'more personal' style of telling stories.
How can it be that a Richmond woman of wealth is willing to betray the Confederacy? It begins with her compassion for captured and injured Union soldiers, and moves step by step into a spy ring that many believe helped defeat the Confederate army. Moved by her love for the nation, she becomes involved step by step in the underground railroad. Mistrusted and spied upon herself, she continues to hold to her values. Her name, almost unknown in history, is revealed in this book, and a case made to have her remembered as a heroine.
Chiaverinni's research into Lizzie Van Lew life was well done. Her novel was consistent in every detail with historical documents and her biography I found in my own reach. She portrayed Lizzie as the southern aristocratic woman she was. It is an excellent study of the subculture of the South and how Lizzie took advantage of the mores of the time to help bring down the tyranny of slavery and the support of the Republic of the United States. She appreciate the struggle and sacrifice of the Founding Fathers.
. One sees through Lizzie a Quaker and an educated women the values which drove her to risk her life, liberty and welfare for the Union and for the abolition of slavery. Her heroism is unusual both in her time and now,
It is a must because we have too long overlooked her contribution to the our countries history..
For years I have been reading everything I could find about Elizabeth Van Lew. This detailed novel was an eye-opener about prisons other than the notorious Andersonville, and how Van Lew supported Union captives.

My interest in Van Lew is with her “underlings.” I was thrilled when the book began with the wedding of Mary Jane Richards who was the one I am researching and who showed up throughout the book.

I appreciated the details of Van Lew’s life and activities that were new to me. They could only have sprung from the author’s meticulous research. Her extensive bibliography will be of great help in my continuing investigation of Mary Jane Richards who appears to be Mary Elizabeth Bowser.

_Hope Irvin Marston, author of EYE ON THE IDITAROD AISLING’S QUEST
I have read a lot of Jennifer Chiaverini's books. And I loved them. I know she has gotten away from the Quilting Circle books...and I can't blame her for that. She is a talented writer but I must say this book was dull. It started off with an exciting premise...historically based and well researched....but then it descended into a month by month recitation of events of the Civil War in Richmond. It is an exciting story...but poorly written. I felt little or no empathy with the heroine. I hurried through parts of the book in order to see if anything noteworthy would happen...and it did. The end of the war came and our heroine and her family survived. Not Chiaverini's best writing...that's for sure. I will preview her newer books to see if they are better. Would not recommend that you buy this book unless you want the nitty gritty on being a spy for the North while living in the capital of the Confederacy.
This is a wonderfully written story of a real woman who was instrumental in aiding the North. Jennifer Chiaverini really knows how to take history and turn it into a very engaging and interesting story. I was amazed at how much I learned and how facinating and frustrating those times were.
Those people had no TV or radar, cell phones or the technology we posess, but they used their brains and were able to accomplish great things. Though her hard work and loyalty earned her some years of plenty in her town, she unfortunately did not fare so well with subsequent administrations. It is good to give credit where credit is due to this most interesting and forceful woman of her day.
First off, I love history and hold a masters degree in it. But when I pick up an historical novel, I want the history to be illuminated through the story and the characters, a backdrop, as it were, to the historical setting. I do not want a novel that really just wants to relate historical research by tossing in some one dimensional characters who do not have depth or growth and who seem to exist merely to propel the history along. This is how I felt about this book. I felt like I was reading a straight history of an aspect of the civil war when I wanted a novel. My book club agreed with me.

Ms. Chiaverini obviously loves her time period and she did her homework. The book is not badly written. But it lacks life and spark because no characters one can believe in, with depth and real motivation, inhabit these pages. The best historical fiction shows history and real people one can care about "Gone With The Wind", "Katherine", "Forever Amber", the works of Sharon Penman and the incomparable Dorothy Dunnett. This book was flat and unengaging from start to finish. Even some grand historical momoents (Lincoln's war's end visit to Richmond, for example) are tossed in without life.

Judging by other reviews, I seem to be in the minority about this, but if you read for character more than just the history, as I do, avoid this book. If you don't care about that, go ahead and read it. You will learn something about an interesting slice of history.