Review: Dreams of Savannah by Roseanna M. White

 

About:

Cordelia Owens can weave a hopeful story around anything and has long since won the hearts of Savannah's society with her whimsy. Even when she receives word that her sweetheart has been lost during a raid on a Yankee vessel, she clings to hope and comes up with many a romantic tale of his eventual homecoming to reassure his mother and sister.

But Phineas Dunn finds nothing redemptive in the horrors of war. Struggling for months to make it home alive, he returns to Savannah injured and changed. The beliefs he once held about slavery and the entire war have been upended, and he's all too sure that he is not the hero Delia seems determined to make him.

When the Confederacy deems Savannah a lost cause and the future wavers, Phin and Delia must both decide where the dreams of a new America will take them--and if they will go there together.

My Thoughts:

Dreams of Savannah was a story that to me shouted hope. Cordelia Owens and Phineas Dunn are two people who love much and fight for that love. Especially in a world where their country is being torn apart by the Civil War.

Both have lived with the shadow of slavery in their lives and I do think since they were raised in the South, that they both were a little naïve about it. But we get to watch their characters rise above their circumstances and even open their hearts up to change. Especially with those they already have in their lives and those they meet on their journey.

Their are many cherished characters that come alive in this story and their stories are just as memorable. Many twists and turns, times of peril, and important social changes. From the way men treated women, the slavery dilemma, to the brotherhood or not of soldiers, and familial obligations.  Above all this neither gave up. Even when all hope seemed lost, and others had walked away- Cordelia did not nor would not believe that she and Phineas would not be united. And after what Phin went through, I am just glad that the one who found him was able to show him the Way and a better way. 

This story was rich in historical detail, especially concerning the the South's naval battles which I had not read about before. I also think it showed a clear picture of what living in Georgia at that time was like especially in the attitudes of society.

I received a copy of this novel from the publisher. I was not required to post a positive review and all views and opinions are my own.

About the Author:

Roseanna M. White (www.roseannamwhite.com) is a bestselling, Christy Award-nominated author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. She pens her novels beneath her Betsy Ross flag, with her Jane Austen action figure watching over her. When not writing fiction, she's homeschooling her two children, editing and designing, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of numerous novels, ranging from biblical fiction to American-set romances to Edwardian British series. Roseanna lives with her family in West Virginia. Learn more at www.roseannamwhite.com.