The Rebel Wife

In his book The Rebel Wife, author Taylor M. Polites brings the tumultuous reconstruction years following the Civil War to vivid life. His heroine, Augusta Branson, a southern belle used to the wealth and luxury of the pre-war era has survived the Civil War only to watch her way of life disintegrate. When her husband dies, she also discovers her wealth has vanished, unscrupulous people surround her that want to take everything she has left, and she must learn to think for herself and to look after the welfare of her young son.

I was appalled at the glimpse the author gives us of the reconstruction era in the south with all its hatred and violence. As Augusta notes, ‘A Negro man had been found dead, shot in the face on the road to Chattanooga with a whitewash cross on his chest. Since then rumors had spread, each day bringing more tales of Union sympathizers harassed, black families burnt alive in their homes, men hanged from trees, white and black, Republicans and scalawag and freedmen subject to some terrifying justice….Everyone said the war was over, but there was no end to the dead and wounded. They just didn’t print them up on casualty lists anymore.’

The book gives us a side of the Southern belle we don’t often see. We sometimes mistakenly think of these women as helpless, unable to function on their own, but Augusta disproves that myth. She learns to have a backbone of steel; she discovers that white southern gentlemen may not be very gentlemanly and that certainly they cannot always be trusted. Her way of life has died and she must reassess who she thought she was, who she has become, and what she believes about herself and her community.

The story not only gives us a look at the years following the Civil War, but it also provides some suspense and a good read, as Augusta searches for a packet of money her husband hid just before he died; a small fortune in money that several other people also hunt for with the intentions of keeping for themselves. This search forces Augusta to reconsider everything that she thought was true and the realization that “All those things that were real to me are false, and the things we denied are true” compels her to take the final action needed.

People grow and change, circumstances force us to reconsider what we believe, and usually we become stronger as a result. Augusta certainly did, as at the end of the book she notes, “There will be more like Buck and Judge, but I know what they look like now. I will be ready for them. I feel there will always be something lurking in the darkness of the trees- whether it is the sickness or the Knights or blind hate. I know what it looks like. I will keep a gun with me and I will be ready for it. I will make sure the powder is dry and Henry is close to me. I will take him to Eli’s grave. He should know who his father was – everything about him. And Simon will come back. I know he will.”

I recommend this book to anyone who likes a good historical fiction, some suspense and action, and an imperfect heroine who still has the courage to take the necessary action to protect herself and her family.