Book Review: Brave Enemies

July 1, 2008

While we have been quite busy moving across country and attending the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in San Jose, it is also summer which means there is time (and therefore a requirement) to read fiction. My mom sent me three new books before we left Princeton and I just finished the last one, Brave Enemies by Robert Morgan.

To be honest, I’m not entirely sure why I put this book on my Amazon wish list since historical fiction isn’t generally my favorite and war stories fall even lower on my list. But, the cover did not lie - I could not put it down. It is not a book of light subjects: war, rape, abuse, discrimination, etc; but it is a book that is easy to read and quite gripping. I believe, based on what I read in the back of the book that it is fairly accurate historically, but it tells a fictional story of a young woman who is forced to run away from home during the Revolutionary War. In the course of her journeys she meets a traveling preacher who gives her refuge and eventually ends up joining the army disguised as a boy simply for a way to survive during the winter.

I’m not sure I would say this is a particularly brilliant novel - it doesn’t make my top ten - but it is solid and one of the best I’ve read in awhile.

Posted in reviews by Sarah