On The Crest Of A Wave by Fran Mcnabb

I loved Fran McNabb's book, "Windswept" and I love this one even more. The author has a way of putting the reader right there and I love that. This story takes place during the tail end of the civil war and is set along the Mississippi coast, near Biloxi. There, in a small seaside village, a young woman, her mother and two sisters try to eke out a living by fishing, drying salt and sewing garments to sell in New Orleans. The heroine and her mother also take care of the sick and wounded (knowledge passed down from the girls father who was a doctor).

On a nearby island, a prisoner of war camp is set up and when the heroine's brother is eventually captured it's there that he is sent. The island is also the barracks of a particular Union major who the heroine has several encounters with and ends up falling in love with. (to the anger of her family and fellow Southerners who consider her a traitor).

I thought the novel extremely well done and realistic. The romance is gradual and takes place over two years. There are many obstacles and the reader is unsure whether they can even be overcome. The reaction of her family and neighbors to their love is also realistic, we know from history that they wouldn't have been received with open arms at all and too many novels gloss over that aspect and "forgive and forget" all too quickly to be believable.This doesn't happen here. Both heroine and hero risk all to be together, including losing the ones they love the most.

Wonderful book!

 There is no sex in this book, if there are one or two cuss words (and I can't recall any) they are very mild. Violence is minimal, in one instance someone is shot and in another a fight breaks out and people get stabbed. The details are not descriptive, and other than one scene where wounds are cautorized with hot knives there is little to make anyone squeamish.