The Velvet Shadow

This book is moving...I thought that it brought a new eye to the Civil War. Flanna is in Boston, studying to get her medical degree so that she can return to Charleston and help her father in his practice. However, the Civil War breaks out and Flanna is forced to figure out how she will get home. As in the other Cahira O'Connor books, she dresses as a boy and becomes a soldier. I thought this book was very well written from beginning to end. The death of the professor is Kathleen's impetus to get back to work on the story of the heirs of Cahira O'Connor. What she finds leads her to wonder what HER role in this will be.I highly recommend this book to anyone, but please read the other 2 books in the series first. This book will make you want to rush out and pick up the 4th.

Novelist Angela Elwell Hunt has done it again! Her exciting historical women's fiction series shines with complex stories of gifted women seeking to make a place for themselves in a world, dominated by narrow ideas of women as little more than man pleasers. Velvet Shadow is the third in a Cahira O Connor series. Flanna O'Connor a Southern bell who defied convention to study medicine in Boston Mass on the eve of the Civil War. Her hopes to take her degree back to the south are shattered by the outbreak of war, cut off from her family she tries to enlist in the Army as a Doctor and prejudice turns her back. This theme runs throughtout the story as the wealthy Bostonian abolitionists bemoan the fate of slaves, while mistreating their Irish servants. Her keen eye for hypocrisy in society is entertaining. I had not known that some freed blacks also had slaves. Her devotion to research illuminates the Zeitgeist (ruling ideas) of the times. When an aspiring politican pursues her to marry him and forsake medicine, Flanna, like her ancestor and many actual women in the Civil War impersonates a man to join the Union Army. She hopes to make her way home to the south and desert but her destiny as a Doctor calls her to steal supplies to treat the wounded, in spite of threat of exposure, court martial or worse. As a surgeon she becomes the Velvet Shadow who saves men who would have perished without her. Hunt has captured the misery and mismanagement of troops, supplies etc in this heartbreaking war that redefined the history of our country. Again, we are led through a series of heart breaks and changes the character must conquer to survive and thrive. This book will spark your appetite to read the earlier books in the series that began with The Silver Sword, set in 1400's Anika of Prague must pretend to be a knight in order to escape unwanted attention of a nobleman's son. She plays in integral part in story of Jan Hus, burned at the stake for his religious beliefs. In the second book, the Golden Cross opens in 1642 when Aidan O'Connor penniless after the death of her father at sea ekes out a living in the slums of Colonial Batavia while her spirit longs for artistic expression. A master cartographer recognizes her talent and senses God leading him to train her. Aidan enters the aristocratic world as apprenticing artist and is coached in fine manners of high born women. She longs to learn and become a wealthy artist to lift her friends from the web of wharf poverty and degradation. Aidan casts aside the brocade to masquerade as a cabin boy aboard the exploration vessel of Captain Tasman to pursue her dream. The voyage is fraught with danger, slaughter and brings Aidan to cling to God. Aidan's voyage leads to unexpected danger, treasure and you'll need to read the book to find out if she settles or succeeds.As readers we learn in pursuing the talents God has placed within us, we can experience Kairos time cr

After the artsy perspective of Hunt's The Golden Cross, I found Flanna O'Connor of the 19th century to be more practical, though still an interesting character. I enjoyed the plot a great deal, and each character was well-developed. Roger and Alden, brothers and foils, bring an element of tension and frustration into the plot, because they both love Flanna. The struggles the three must endure make for a great, unpredictable story. The whole book, however, does not come together until the end. By the time I came to the last page, I finally felt like all the strings had been tied together. It is not an overwhelmingly easy, lush book to read, but it is realistic, heartwarming, and it all points to the wonderful power of God through Jesus Christ. Bravo, Mrs. Hunt.

From Literary Times The heirs of Cahira O'Connor were women who gave up traditional roles to fight for right. Is Kathleen O'Connor a direct descendant of Cahira's and destined to do great things? As Kathleen reads the journal of Cahira's descendant, Flanna O'Connor, the young southern belle who attends medical school in Boston intrigues her and we are thrust into the past . . . Flanna has tentatively agreed to marry Roger Haynes, but when she meets his brother Major Alden Haynes, she becomes confused by her feelings for him. Flanna passes her final exam and is desperate to return to her father in Charleston, but all southbound transportation has stopped because the Civil War has begun. In order to return home, Flanna disguises herself as a soldier and begins to aid the sick. Flanna puts her trust in the Lord for it is her belief and faith in Him that guides her, but Alden discovers her ruse. He allows her to stay and continue doctoring the wounded until he can arrange for safe transport and together they share some harrowing experiences. Alden and Flanna love each other but are under the impression that the others heart belongs to someone else, and it isn't until Roger makes a supreme sacrifice that they finally acknowledge their feelings, only to be separated again. Taylor Morgan, who gave Kathleen the journal, wants to know what happened to Flanna and Alden so she tells him, plus a surprise she learned about him! This is a powerful, unique story as we view the war mostly through Flanna's eyes, and while the reader gets the impression that for the most part, the war was tedious and boring, this book is anything but! I applaud Ms. Hunt for the thorough research, as it supports the authenticity and credibility of Flanna's story. Enthralling! Ms. Hunt is an expert storyteller and The Velvet Shadow is her masterpiece! Very well written as Ms. Hunt develops the tender romance between this atypical southern belle and her northern soldier during the most horrible period of our history! Completely wonderful! I highly recommend and urge you to read The Velvet Shadow - you'll love it! Gloria Miller -- Copyright © 030199 Literary Times, Inc. All rights reserved

This is a powerful, unique story as we view the war mostly through Flanna's eyes, and while the reader gets the impression that for the most part, the war was tedious and boring, this book is anything but! I applaud Ms. Hunt for the thorough research, as it supports the authenticity and credibility of Flanna's story. Ms. Hunt is an expert storyteller and The Velvet Shadow is her masterpiece! Very well written as Ms. Hunt develops the tender romance between this atypical southern belle and her northern soldier during the most horrible period of our history! Completely wonderful! I highly recommend and urge you to read The Velvet Shadow. You'll love it!" --The Literary Times