A Perilous Proposal

A Perilous Proposal and the Carolina Cousins Series are popular among historical fiction readers in my church library. May Tabor

This book is a very simple yet enjoyable read. I don't fully know how historically accurate it is but I do know it makes you stop and think and appreciate the path paved before us by those who have since passed. I loved it and would definitely recommend this book and the following one. I intend on starting the Shenandoah series soon.

Michael Phillips has done it again. A wonderful yet heart wrenching tale from the south after the War between the States. If you enjoyed his Shenandoah Sisters series, you will like this too. My recommendation is to read the entire Shenandoah Sisters series first.

During the Civil War slave child Jake detests his yoke and though young shows open signs of rebellion against his master in spite of the warnings from his father. Jake's anger explodes when his dad vanishes as he assumes foul play. Out pf control, he kills a white drifter who he caught molesting his mother. Knowing that in the Confederacy, no black can get justice when a white is involved, Jake runs away. Confederate soldiers capture Jake, but he escapes and joins the Union army. There he meets a kind mentor, Micah, a black soldier, who counseled the lad to let his anger go. Holding a grudge, he deserts the army heading to North Carolina where he is shocked to meet up with his father and a young black woman Mayme who he falls in love with. Even in this southern state Jake goes out of his way to alienate whites who burn crosses on their lawn. Using the Civil War as a backdrop, Michael Phillips provides a rousing exciting inspirational tale that makes a strong case that racism destroys everyone even the innocent. Jake is a fabulous protagonist struggling with devastating blows to his heart. He knows he must forgive his father for deserting his mother and him, but finds it difficult to do so in spite of the encouragement of several women including Mayme to let it go so that he can move on. The cast makes the tale as readers will obtain a taste of how crippling hatred is. Harriet Klausner