December 1, 2017

Trained at her mother's knee in herbal medicinal arts, freedwoman Marlie Lynch is taken in by her white father's family at Lynchwood. She spends her time crafting new remedies and secretly helping the Union cause, which includes hiding escaped prisoner Ewan McCall in her lab. Her uneasy peace is shattered when a vicious in-law invites the arrogant Commander Cahill and his ruthless Confederate Home Guard to move into the house. Before long, Marlie and Ewan are fleeing for their lives on the Underground Railroad, with peril close behind. A quietly courageous healer and a Union officer battle hatred, intolerance, and cruelty in a compelling story of the Civil War told from an often neglected point of view. VERDICT Exceptional historical detail and abundant literary and philosophical references guarantee this well-written story will appeal to both romance and historical fiction fans. Cole (An Extraordinary Union) lives in New York City. [See "Editors' Fall Picks," LJ 9/1/17, p. 34.]

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Starred review from October 15, 2017
Marlie Lynch is more privileged than most, but her free papers and her family's protection offer little comfort when Confederate soldiers arrive and threaten her already-limited liberty. But in the quiet of her rooms, she is free to experiment and tinker with her herbs and medicinal concoctions, which help heal the wounds of soldiers, neighbors, and slaves alike. She is well respected in her small community for her work and for her name, and that is why no one suspects that she may be harboring a fugitive in the attic. Ewan McCall is used to silence and solitude. As a Union officer who has spent several years in Confederate prisons, he has acclimated to being alone with a book or just his thoughts. Yet while hidden in Marlie's secret room, all his thoughts are fixated on the beautiful and brilliant woman on the other side of the door. The intimacy of their seclusion is tantalizing, and the sexual tension sizzles as they dare to close that social divide. Thoughtfully portrayed characters with deep minds and passionate hearts make this second novel in Cole's Loyal League series, following An Extraordinary Union (2017), sparkle. Highly recommended for lovers of historical romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)

Starred review from October 15, 2017
A self-taught scientist spying for the North rescues a Union soldier in the Confederate state of North Carolina. Marlie Lynch is the free-born daughter of a formerly enslaved medicine woman and a mysterious white father. Even though her connection to the landowning white Lynch family is not openly acknowledged, Marlie lives in their house and dines with the family. This nominal protection allows her to take risks for her cause. On the surface, she's collecting the herbs and roots that go into her medicinal decoctions. But she's also helping those less fortunate get to safety through the Underground Railroad and carrying books, food, and information in and out of the local prison camp. There, she meets the imprisoned soldier Ewan McCall. But Ewan is more than just another redheaded white boy fighting for the Union. He's a skilled interrogator and is tormented by the things he's done to extract information from captured Rebels. When Ewan seizes an opportunity to escape the prison, Marlie shelters him at the Lynch estate. But before long, the hatred and racism that surround Marlie's home invade her very family, and she flees with Ewan through the Carolina woods. The second book in Cole's Loyal League series (An Extraordinary Union, 2017) follows much the same pattern as the first. Again, Cole's heroine is gorgeously portrayed and powerful enough that readers will worship at her feet just as Ewan does. But if this book shows that Cole is settling into a pattern, readers won't want her to break the mold on book No. 3. Her prose is flawless. Her historical research is absorbing, and her characters are achingly human. This book is fantastic. As the war closes in around them, the line blurs between who is the rescuer and who is the rescued.

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