In a snow-covered village in Chechnya, eight-year-old Havaa watches as her father is abducted by Russian soldiers. Their neighbor Akhmed takes Havaa to the bombed-out hospital of Sonja Rabina. Sonja has no desire to take on more responsibility and risk -- there's someone of her own whose return she doesn't want to jeopardize. But over the course of five extraordinary days, Sonja's world will shift on its axis.

"From the award-winning, much loved writer: a deeply moving novel about an American woman's place during the Spanish Civil War, the lessons she took from it, and how her story will shape her granddaughter's path. Marian cut herself off from her conservative, wealthy Irish Catholic family when she volunteered during the Spanish Civil War--experiences she has always kept to herself. Now in her nineties, she shares her Rhode Island cottage with her granddaughter...

It's a hot summer along the Mississippi River, and the Civil War still rages on, bringing devastation to countless lives.

"...explores the science and grisly history of U.S. Civil War medicine, using actual medical cases and first-person accounts by soldiers, doctors, and nurses. The Civil War took the lives of hundreds of thousands of Americans and left countless others with disabling wounds and chronic illnesses. Bullets and artillery shells shattered soldiers' bodies, while microbes and parasites killed twice as many men as did the battles. Yet from this tragic four-year...

"In May 1863, after months of hard and bitter combat, Union troops under the command of Major General Ulysses S. Grant at long last successfully cross the Mississippi River. They force the remnants of Confederate Lieutenant General John C. Pemberton's army to retreat to Vicksburg, burning the bridges over the Big Black River in its path. But after sustaining heavy casualties in two failed assaults against the rebels, Union soldiers are losing confidence...

"The never-before-told story of four real-life women who risked everything to take on a life of espionage during the Civil War"--Provided by publisher.

During the Civil War, Caroline Fletcher, the daughter of a wealthy slave-holding family, is drawn into the abolitionist movement, where she is confronted with the risks and sacrifices her beliefs entail.

"The Fenn clan leaves Missouri in 1863 in hope of a better life in Texas. Besides the harsh weather, horse-thieving refuges, and regular Yankee patrols they expected, they are pursued by a ruthless Union commander and a murderous Osage tracker"--