The Widow’s War

“Mary Mackey gives her readers yet another woman warrior, this one a fighter in the Civil War. We thrill to the story of Carrie Vinton as she courageously takes the side of freedom over slavery” —Maxine Hong Kingston, author of The Woman Warrior

With an “inventive imagination and crisp style,” bestselling author Mary Mackey has captured readers’ hearts with her epic, sweeping works of historical fiction. Now in THE WIDOW’S WAR, she presents a novel of a woman’s fierce spirit, rebellious love, and struggle for justice set against the backdrop of the approaching Civil War.

In 1853, Carolyn Vinton is left alone and pregnant in Rio de Janeiro when her fiancé, abolitionist Dr. William Saylor, disappears. Grieving and desperate, Carrie is easy prey for William’s stepbrother, Deacon Presgrove, who convinces her that William is dead and offers to take her back to the United States and marry her to give her baby a father.

Carrie soon realizes that she has been betrayed at every turn by her new husband. Deacon’s father is a proslavery senator, and Deacon plans to use Carrie’s inheritance-not to fight slavery as he promised-but to support it. Carrie’s love for William and her powerful abolitionist views have never died. When she discovers that William is alive and fighting to bring the Kansas Territory into the Union as a free state, she escapes the clutches of her husband and joins him.

Their passionate reunion takes place in the midst of a violent civil war that will soon engulf the entire nation. As abolitionists and proslavers battled over the Kansas Territory, fire and fury sweep across the plains threatening to tear Carrie and William apart forever.

When a band of pro-slavers kidnaps Carrie’s child, William, and thirteen free blacks, Carrie arms a band of African-American soldiers and leads them into battle to save the hostages from certain death. Beautifully researched and written, The Widow’s War is a fast-paced, compelling tale that offers readers passion, adventure, the magic of Afro-Brazilian religious practices, and the story of the first African American soldiers to fight in the Civil War.

ISBN: 978-0-425-22791-6
$12.99 e-book; $6.00 paperback

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The Widow’s War
by Mary Mackey
Berkley Trade Paperback Original, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-425-22791-6
$15.00