What readers think of The Second Mrs. Hockaday, plus links to write your own review.

The writing in this book was so colorful and exquisite. I truly felt I was right there with the characters. I enjoy epistolatory narratives, so this was another aspect of the book I loved. Things were revealed slowly...but it didn't drag and I never figured out the truth until it was revealed. This book will become one of the gifts I give in 2017 when it is published!

The use of written correspondence and diary entries to tell the story gave the reader an intimate view of the characters' lives as they struggled through such a terrible time. There was as much pain and suffering back home as on the battlefield. A fast read for me... needed to know what actually happened that fateful night. Very thoroughly researched. I highly recommend this book for historical fiction lovers.

I very much enjoyed the slow solving of the mystery as to why Placidia Hockaday was accused of a horrendous crime. Little by little details are revealed about the life of the young Southern belle who marries a man she hardly knows and is unprepared for the responsibilities she must assume when he goes off to war. Three generations of her family are included. The characters were well developed through their letters, diaries, and inquest transcripts that slowly unraveled the complicated story. At times I was confused about names and time periods and had to reread some parts but about half way into the book it got easier to keep things straight. I would recommend the book to those interested in history and mysteries and like a good story based on true incidents.

In this age of texting and tweeting it is sheer pleasure to read well-crafted (if impossibly long) letters – and inquests and diary entries. This book captured my interest from the first page. I was not very far into it when I misplaced it during holiday preparations. It festered in my imagination the whole time it was lost; when found the plot and time turns went beyond my expected scope. This is an excellent book that gives heart- rendering insight into the Civil War and its aftermath.

Once I picked this book up, I could not put it down until the last haunting sentence rang in my mind like a bell. It's that good! Other reviewers have summarized the plot so I won't dwell on it here. I would point out, though, that it brings home the sheer cruelty of slavery, and white people's casual acceptance of that cruelty, in a way few books have managed to do without preaching. The horrors of the Civil War are also made immediately felt through the characters' lives in quiet but such graphic prose that it made me feel I was understanding it for the first time as a fellow human being rather than a student of history. Best of all was the powerful depiction of the love between Placidia and Major Gryffth, in language so moving you understand at once this is one of THE great love stories and that whatever happens in the end will be shaped by this unyielding love. The author's brilliance shines in the taut plotting and pacing of the story but also in her development of every single minor character. They are all fully alive; it is a whole complete world. You will want to dive in and not come up for air until the very end! One beautiful passage at the end of the book stays with me and seems particularly relevant perhaps to our current political moment: "So much blood has been spilled that redemption may be out of reach in the end. Maybe all we can hope for is to be so exhausted by hate that we settle for the ceremonies of reconciliation." p. 236 (advance copy) I can hardly wait for Susan Rivers' next book!

This book captured and kept my interest from the very beginning. I liked Susan Rivers' method of writing the story of Placidia, the second Mrs. Hockaday, from multiple points of view by using letters and diary entries written by the different characters. Although it was revealed almost in the beginning that Placidia had been imprisoned while her husband was away fighting in the Civil War, you didn't know what crime she had committed. The author dropped just enough hints to keep you reading, but not so many to give away Placidia's secret until it was revealed at the end of the novel.

I highly recommend this debut novel for any readers interested in historical fiction. Book clubs could have lively discussions about the resourcefulness and resilience of Placidia, a teenage bride who was left on her own to raise her young stepson Charles, manage the farm and the slaves, and cope with the raiders while her husband was away in the war.

Another goodie that readers will have to devour in the New Year; a nice way to start off 2017. At first I wasn't sure if I would like the structure of this novel. Set up as letters and diary entries, I actually thought it might be stultifying. Rather, it was engrossing with an exquisite level of tension that kept escalating. Based on a true incident, this fascinating story surrounds a young woman from the South who precipitously marries a Major employed in the Civil War's southern regiment. Almost immediately after, he is summoned back to the front lines, leaving this poorly equipped young woman to lead a 300 acre farm and its slaves in addition to an infant from his previous deceased wife.When the Major returns, he finds that his wife bore a child and supposedly murdered it. However, what really happened , along with the travails of war, and a snapshot of slave's treatment on plantations makes this a compelling read.

Told in haunting and moving prose through journal entries and correspondence, this story based on actual events tells of a newly married young woman left home alone with just the servants and her husband's infant son after her officer husband is called back to fight for the Confederacy. Returning home years later, he finds his wife has been accused of a horrible crime of which she will not speak. It's at once a love story, a history lesson and a beautifully written tale of forgiveness.