Caves, Cannons and Crinolines Review

Thanks to Penny Lockwood Ehrnekranz, author of Ghost for Rent, for this super review. Visit Penny's blog to learn more about her.

REVIEW

Title: Caves, Cannons and Crinolines
Author: Beverly Stowe McClure
Author web site: http://beverlystowemcclure.wordpress.com/
Publisher: Twilight Times Books
url: http://twilighttimesbooks.com/
ISBN: 1-60619-112-8
Genre: YA historical
Format: trade paperback
Release date: Sept. 15, 2009
Price: $16.95
Pages: 220
Chapter excerpt:
http://twilighttimesbooks.com/CavesCannons_ch1.html

/Caves, Cannons and Crinolines/, is thought provoking young adult
historical novel. Set in the days of the Civil War where families are
torn apart, readers are given a very real picture of life in 1863. Ms.
McClure has clearly done her research and skillfully brings her
characters to life.

The main character, Elizabeth Stamford, or Lizzie as she is called by
her family, is a girl on the brink of young adulthood. Everything she
knows has been thrown into confusion and turmoil as the Yankees lay
siege to her home in Vicksburg, Mississippi. Lizzie’s two older brothers
have gone off to war, leaving Lizzie home with her younger brother, Nat,
her mother, two slaves, and her father, who is a doctor.

With shelling occurring on an almost daily basis, the family is forced
to move from their lovely home to a cave carved into the hillside behind
their house. Food is scarce, tempers are high, and living conditions
difficult. Lizzie is torn between her desire to please her family, and
her convictions that even girls should fight in the war. How does a
young girl deal with this conflict?

Lizzie has a lot of growing up to do, and in the midst of death and
despair, love comes calling in a most unlikely young man. Is Lizzie up
to the challenge? Will her family support her choice? Can love blossom
despite the stench of blood and the pounding of cannon balls?

We all know the North fought the South because President Lincoln
believed all men should be equal, despite the color of their skin. Ms.
McClure lightly deals with this subject as Lizzie struggles to determine
if her family’s slaves, Aunt Lois and Uncle Morris, are happy. Lizzie
thinks of them as family, but do they feel the same way?

Ms. McClure answers these questions and more, but you’ll have to read
/Caves, Cannons and Crinolines /to find out the answers/. /I know I
enjoyed reading this novel and felt transported to another time and
place each time I picked it up to read another chapter.