Spy of Richmond

One hundred fifty years ago today, (April 2, 1865) the Confederate government evacuated Richmond, but not before ordering buildings and structures of military importance burned to prevent the Yankees benefiting from them. Unfortunately, the Richmond City Council's order to also destroy all the city's liquor by dumping it in the gutters only served to spread the fire. By the time the Federal troops contained the blazes after arriving on April 3, twenty city blocks had been destroyed. Very few in the Confederacy held out any hope that the South could survive the loss of its capital. Six days after the Stars & Stripes were raised above Richmond for the first time in four bloody years, General Lee surrendered.   [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1186", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2904", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"600", "height":"432", "alt":"RichmondRuins"}}]] The ruins of Carey Street, Richmond, VA     My hope is that those of you who have read Spy of Richmond have some sense of the intense and conflicting emotions the citizens must have felt as they watched their city crumble around them. No matter where their loyalties fell, April 2, 1865, was an awful day. Give-Away! To commemorate this momentous day, I've put together a Spy of Richmond-themed give-away which I hope will delight anyone who has read this novel. [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1187", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-2907", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"550", "height":"551", "alt":"Spygifts"}}]]   Here's what's in the package: A Harper's Weekly sampler set of news from the Civil War. A nod to the journalist hero Harrison Caldwell. The booklet Yanks, Rebels, Rats & Rations: Scratching for Food in Civil War Prison Camps. Ten gorgeous Mort Kunstler postcards depicting the Civil War South. Famous Women of the Civil War card game, featuring Elizabeth Van Lew and other women you may recognize from previous books in the Heroines Behind the Lines series! The novel North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell. Our heroine Sophie Kent's favorite book, the inspiration for her writing pseudonym of John Thornton, and ... oh wait, I don't want to spoil the end for those who haven't reach it yet. "Harrison's" compact black Bible with "Sophie's" blue ribbon marking Psalm 31. PLUS: Original artwork: my husband drew a picture of Sophie Kent on a page of text from the novel. Suitable for a 5x7 frame, but no mat or frame is included. Rob is also the man you can thank for the maps in the front of each novel! [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1188", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-2906", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"300", "height":"440", "alt":"Spysketch"}}]] To enter the drawing, please use the Rafflecopter tool below. You will see several ways to earn points, but you only need to choose one of them to be entered. The more points you earn, the better your chances! a Rafflecopter giveaway A winner will be selected on April 9 and notified via email. Winner, you'll have three days to respond to me with your mailing address. Good luck! Spy of Richmond (Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War Book 4) [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1189", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-full wp-image-2014", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"125", "height":"193", "alt":"125Spycover"}}]]432 pages, softcover*  Is living a lie ever the right thing to do? The Confederate capital in the height of the Civil War: no place for a Union loyalist. But just the place for a spy. Her father a slaveholder, her suitor a Confederate officer, and herself an abolitionist, Sophie Kent must walk a tightrope of deception in her efforts to end slavery. As suspicion in Richmond rises, Sophie’s espionage becomes more and more dangerous. If her courage will carry her through, what will be lost along the way—her true love, her father, her life?        [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1190", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone wp-image-2768 size-full", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"134", "height":"45", "alt":"add-to-goodreads-button"}}]]

Hundreds of women were spies on both sides of the Civil War. The book Stealing Secrets by H. Donald Winkler shares the stories of seventeen of them. Below, I'll tell you a little about five women spies every Civil War enthusiast should know. 1. Belle Boyd, spy for the Confederacy [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1145", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2791 size-medium", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"241", "height":"300", "alt":"BelleBoyd"}}]] Belle Boyd   As a 17-year-old living with her prominent slaveholding family in West Virginia,  Belle Boyd was arrested for shooting a Union soldier who had broken into her family’s home and insulted her mother. After she was cleared of all charges, she charmed intelligence from Union officers, and passed it to the Confederacy. Highly suspicious of her, Union officials sent her to live with family in Front Royal, Virginia, where she became a courier between Confederate generals Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and P.G.T. Beauregard. Jackson credited the information she delivered with helping him win victories in the Shenandoah Valley Campaign of 1862. Boyd was arrested three more times throughout the war, and ended up marrying the Union naval officer who once served as her captor. 2. Pauline Cushman, spy for the Union [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1146", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2792 size-medium", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"197", "height":"300", "alt":"Paulline Cushman"}}]] Paulline Cushman   Pauline Cushman, born in New Orleans, was a struggling 30-year-old actress in 1863. In Louisville, Kentucky, she was dared by Confederate officers to interrupt a show with a toast to the Confederacy and its president, Jefferson Davis. Seizing the opportunity, Cushman told the Union Army’s local provost marshal that the toast could be used to win trust from the Confederates in attendance. It proved to be the key that unlocked the door her most important role as a federal spy. In Nashville she worked with the Army of the Cumberland, gathering intelligence about Rebel operations, identifying Confederate spies, and acting as a federal courier. Confederates arrested her and sentenced her to hang, but the unexpected arrival of Union forces at Shelbyville saved her life. 3. Rose O'Neal Greenhow, spy for the Confederacy [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1147", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2793 size-medium", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"286", "height":"300", "alt":"Rose Greenhow"}}]] Rose Greenhow   The widow Rose O'Neal Greenhow was a Washington socialite and zealous secessionist. She began spying for the Confederacy in 1861. One of her most important messages allegedly helped Gen. P.G.T. Beauregard gather enough forces to win the First Battle of Bull Run. Though she was placed under house arrest after that, Greenhow still managed to get information to her contacts. In January 1862, she was transferred, along with her 8-year-old daughter, to Old Capitol Prison. Several months later she was deported to Baltimore, Maryland, where the Confederates welcomed her as a hero. Confederate President Jefferson Davis sent Greenhow to Britain and France to help gain support for the Confederacy. Her journey home would be the end of her story. To quote Smithsonian.com: In September 1864, Greenhow returned to the South aboard the Condor, a British blockade-runner, carrying $2,000 in gold. A Union gunboat pursued the ship as it neared the North Carolina shore, and it ran aground on a sandbar. Against the captain’s advice, Greenhow tried to escape in a rowboat with two other passengers. The boat capsized and she drowned, presumably weighed down by the gold she carried around her neck. Her body washed ashore the next day and was buried by the Confederates with full military honors. 4. Harriet Tubman, spy for the Union [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1148", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2794 size-medium", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"199", "height":"300", "alt":"Harriet Tubman"}}]] Harriet Tubman   Though most known for her role spiriting slaves North to freedom, Union officers recruited her to run a spy network composed of former slaves in South Carolina. She also became the first woman in the U.S. history to lead a military expedition. She not only helped Col. James Montgomery plan a night raid to free slaves from rice plantations along the Combahee River. On June 1, 1863, Tubman was in the lead with Montgomery as they. along with hundreds of black soldiers, snaked up the river in gunboats, avoiding mines that lurked along the waterway. When they reached the shore, they destroyed a Confederate supply depot and freed more than 750 slaves.   5. Elizabeth Van Lew, spy for the Union [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1149", "attributes":{"class":"media-image wp-image-2795 size-medium", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"178", "height":"300", "alt":"Elizabeth Van Lew"}}]] Elizabeth Van Lew   Van Lew was a Richmond-born abolitionist whose sympathy for the Union, and the cause of freedom, compelled her to bring food and other comforts to the Union officers imprisoned a few blocks from her house at Libby Prison. Her loyalties were under suspicion, but her wealth and social status protected her for the most part. In December 1863, a Union officer she helped escape from Libby told General Benjamin Butler about her, suggesting she would make an excellent spy contact for the North. Butler contacted Van Lew with his request, and she agreed. She developed her own spy network, and digested and synthesized the information before sending it, encoded, via a courier to Union military officials. Van Lew's spy ring included black and white Richmonders, slave and free, native Virginians and immigrants. One of these was Mary Elizabeth Bowser, a former slave who was planted as a domestic in the White House of the Confederacy. (We talked about Mary in the post Black Spies of Confederate Richmond.) For more on Elizabeth Van Lew, I recommend Southern Lady, Yankee Spy by Elizabeth R. Varon, or this more concise Smithsonian article: "Elizabeth Van Lew: An Unlikely Union Spy". Hundreds of women, just as daring in their deeds of espionage as these spies above, have escaped fame for their work. In Spy of Richmond, I've chosen to explore the life of a young woman drawn into the spy network of Elizabeth Van Lew. The fictional heroine of Sophie Kent represents the real historical heroines who quietly gathered intelligence for the spymistress at great personal risk. Spy of Richmond (Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War Book 4) [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1150", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignleft size-full wp-image-2014", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"125", "height":"193", "alt":"125Spycover"}}]] Compelled to atone for the sins of her slaveholding father, Union loyalist Sophie Kent risks everything to help end the war from within the Confederate capital and abolish slavery forever. But she can’t do it alone. Former slave Bella Jamison sacrifices her freedom to come to Richmond, where her Union soldier husband is imprisoned, and her twin sister still lives in bondage in Sophie’s home. Though it may cost them their lives, they work with Sophie to betray Rebel authorities. Harrison Caldwell, a Northern journalist who escorts Bella to Richmond, infiltrates the War Department as a clerk–but is conscripted to defend the city’s fortifications. As Sophie’s spy network grows, she walks a tightrope of deception, using her father’s position as newspaper editor and a suitor’s position in the ordnance bureau for the advantage of the Union. One misstep could land her in prison, or worse. Suspicion hounds her until she barely even trusts herself. When her espionage endangers the people she loves, she makes a life-and-death gamble. Will she follow her convictions even though it costs her everything–and everyone–she holds dear?      [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1151", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone wp-image-2768 size-full", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"134", "height":"45", "alt":"add-to-goodreads-button"}}]]  

At long last, the Heroines Behind the Lines Civil War series is complete! Sophie Kent, Spy of Richmond, joins her "sisters" Charlotte, Liberty, and Caitlin. Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, "The end of a matter is better than its beginning." As much fun as it is to start writing a new series or new book, I must say I agree with this verse--bringing a project to completion is even better. There were times I thought writing this series would kill me (more on that in a separate blog post), but look, I'm still here! Whew! [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1152", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-2802", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"400", "height":"800", "alt":"completefeaturingspy"}}]] My prayer for you The theme verse for Spy of Richmond sums up my hope and prayer for each one of you readers: "Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord" (Psalm 31:24). I wrote the Heroines Behind the Lines series because I was so inspired by the faith and courage of real women who lived and made a difference during the Civil War. I pray these stories inspire faith and courage in you as well. The book blurb Compelled to atone for the sins of her slaveholding father, Union loyalist Sophie Kent risks everything to help end the war from within the Confederate capital and abolish slavery forever. But she can’t do it alone. Former slave Bella Jamison sacrifices her freedom to come to Richmond, where her Union soldier husband is imprisoned, and her twin sister still lives in bondage in Sophie’s home. Though it may cost them their lives, they work with Sophie to betray Rebel authorities. Harrison Caldwell, a Northern journalist who escorts Bella to Richmond, infiltrates the War Department as a clerk–but is conscripted to defend the city’s fortifications. As Sophie’s spy network grows, she walks a tightrope of deception, using her father’s position as newspaper editor and a suitor’s position in the ordnance bureau for the advantage of the Union. One misstep could land her in prison, or worse. Suspicion hounds her until she barely even trusts herself. When her espionage endangers the people she loves, she makes a life-and-death gamble. Will she follow her convictions even though it costs her everything–and everyone–she holds dear?       [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1153", "attributes":{"class":"media-image alignnone wp-image-2768 size-full", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"134", "height":"45", "alt":"add-to-goodreads-button"}}]] Want to help? Several of you have asked what you can do to help launch Spy of Richmond. First of all, thank you so much for asking! Now, to answer your question: buying the book, either through the links above or through your local bookstore, is the most obvious help, and SO appreciated! But I realize not everyone can do that right now. So here are five free ways you can still help generate some buzz. If you're a Goodreads user, simply add Spy of Richmond to your "want to read" list on Goodreads. Use the Goodreads button provided above. Share a graphic on Facebook. I've already created one so all you have to do is go here, and click the "share" button. Here's another option for a graphic to share, which features 4 new Christian historical novels that released this week. Or if you see one floating around FB, just like it and share it. Tweet to your followers about #SpyofRichmond. Here's a couple suggestions you can copy and paste--or make up your own! #AmReading #SpyofRichmond by @JocelynGreen77! http://wp.me/P1bLl3-Jk #civilwar #christianfiction #goodreads NEW in #christianfiction: #SpyofRichmond by @JocelynGreen77! http://wp.me/P1bLl3-Jk #civilwar #HeroinesBehindtheLines Pin something on Pinterest. Pinning the book cover is an obvious choice, but I have lots to choose from on my Spy of Richmond board so hop over and click away! This last one is a huge help but does involve a little more of your time. Here's the deal. If someone who has never read my books sees a share, a tweet, or a pin about Spy of Richmond, if she's smart, she's going to look at the online customer reviews for my previous books to see if it's worth investing her time and money. SO if you haven't already, and feel like you could honestly post a positive review for Wedded to War, Widow of Gettysburg, and/or Yankee in Atlanta, would you consider taking a moment and doing so? More than a million books are published in a year. It's hard to stand out--customer reviews REALLY help! (Amazon, Goodreads, BarnesandNoble, ChristianBook, DeeperShopping...) More new releases this week! Spy of Richmond is not the only new Christian historical novel to hit the bookshelves this week! I'm pleased to celebrate the launches of three other fantastic books. Dauntless and An Uncertain Choice are young adult medieval novels, and The Outlaw Takes a Bride is 19th-century Western. Congratulations to Dina L. Sleiman, Jody Hedlund, and Susan Page Davis! Are your to-read piles growing or what? [[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1154", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-2806", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"600", "height":"226", "alt":"newthisweek"}}]]   Happy reading!

With Valentine's Day soon upon us, let's talk about love. Many of you know that I had the honor and privilege of co-authoring The 5 Love Languages Military Edition with Dr. Gary Chapman a while ago. Working on that book helped me invest in my own marriage in ways that I hadn't before. It also improved my writing when it came to developing characters and relationships. Now, I am not a romance novelist, but there is love in my books: between spouses, sweethearts, parents and children, siblings. So what I'm about to share can be applied to every loving relationship in your books, too. The love language concept is simple but profound: what feels loving to one person doesn't necessarily feel loving to another person. Dr. Chapman has identified five basic "languages" in which we express and receive love: Words of Affirmation Quality Time Receiving Gifts Acts of Service Physical Touch As you develop your characters, determine which of the above is their primary love language, and be consistent with that. If her main love language is Words of Affirmation, we should see her really respond when someone verbally affirms, encourages, and supports her. By the same token, harsh words will hurt her very deeply. If a heroine's love language is Acts of Service, for example, a bouquet of roses at the end of a hard day will not impress her nearly as much as if the hero would pitch in and clean the kitchen instead.  Love languages can spark romance or conflict, depending on how you pair them. Use them to ramp up the tension between two people. Conflict happens when two people do not express and receive love in the same way. In my book Yankee in Atlanta, Edward's love language is Physical Touch, but his wife has been abused in the past, which makes it nearly impossible for her to bestow physical affection upon him. Worse, when he tries to show her his love in the same way he wants to receive it (touch), it triggers negative feelings in her. Edward feels shunned and unloved, which erases his motivation to treat her lovingly. It's a vicious cycle. When a person feels unloved, it's very difficult to want to behave in a loving way, especially if that particular love language doesn't come naturally. In Spy of Richmond, my character Bella Jamison wonders how her husband feels about her anymore because their most recent conversation---months ago---was clipped and short. His deployment has thrust a gaping silence between them which grates on her more than it would if her love language were not Words of Affirmation. So when she sneaks into Richmond to find him a prisoner at Libby Prison, she longs to speak and hear words that will bond them together again. Here's an excerpt from their first meeting outside the prison where he is chopping wood: Light and shadow fought within Abraham's eyes, and he breathed in deeply. Bella could almost see the wheels in his mind grinding laboriously. Until finally, "I didn't ask you to come."   Bella tried not to stiffen. "I got things I need to say to you."   He picked up his axe, scanned the perimeter, but did not look at her directly. Nodded, and she understood that she was to speak, and quickly.   Bella wanted to be smooth and eloquent, when her nature was to be practical and straightforward. Perhaps a little too sharp. She wanted her words to sing to him, draw a smile from his lips. She wanted them to be a tender caress, a balm to his wounds of both body and spirit. But they were standing in an alley outside a Confederate prison, with the clatter of horses and merchants and shoppers rattling the very air about them. As the guard's voice raised itself over Peter's, Bella's speech was chopped to bits by Abraham's swinging axe, and he did not look at her as she, dressed as the slave she had once been, dropped pieces of her heart from her lips. Knowing Bella's love language helped me understand how excruciating this interaction would have been for her. As you develop the primary and secondary love languages of your characters, think about whether there is a specific reason those languages are meaningful to them. Many times, we long for the expression of love that we have gone without. Edward's longing for Physical Touch relates to the fact that his mother died when he was too young to remember her, and he was raised by a succession of nannies who didn't touch him any more than they had to. In the example from Spy of Richmond, we get the idea that Bella may not have spoken Words of Affirmation much under normal circumstances ("her nature was to be practical and straightforward"), but the fact that so few words had passed between her and Abraham during the war brought that need to the surface for her.  Perhaps a character who grew up with barely enough food on the table really appreciates the love language of Receiving Gifts now. Not every character's love language needs to be born from their personal history. My love language is Quality Time, and I can't imagine a particular reason for that. But as you get to know your characters, perhaps you'll make some connections that add to their three-dimensionality. To further explore the love languages, check out www.5lovelanguages.com or find a copy of the book The 5 Love Languages. You'll be able to draw your own connections to the characters you're developing--and your own relationships will benefit, too, I'm sure! 

[[{"type":"media", "view_mode":"media_large", "fid":"1015", "attributes":{"class":"media-image aligncenter wp-image-1995", "typeof":"foaf:Image", "style":"", "width":"500", "height":"775", "alt":"Spycover"}}]] Many thanks to the River North Fiction design team for this outstanding cover! Spy of Richmond is the fourth and final book in the Heroines Behind the Lines series. I can barely believe we are coming to the end! Here's what's in store for you in this story: Trust none. Risk all. Richmond, Virginia, 1863. Compelled to atone for the sins of her slaveholding father, Union loyalist Sophie Kent risks everything to help end the war from within the Confederate capital and abolish slavery forever. But she can't do it alone. Former slave Bella Jamison sacrifices her freedom to come to Richmond, where her Union soldier husband is imprisoned, and her twin sister still lives in bondage in Sophie's home. Though it may cost them their lives, they work with Sophie to betray Rebel authorities. Harrison Caldwell, a Northern journalist who escorts Bella to Richmond, infiltrates the War Department as a clerk--but is conscripted to defend the city's fortifications. As Sophie's spy network grows, she walks a tightrope of deception, using her father's position as newspaper editor and a suitor's position in the ordnance bureau for the advantage of the Union. One misstep could land her in prison, or worse. Suspicion hounds her until she barely even trusts herself. When her espionage endangers the people she loves, she makes a life-and-death gamble. Will she follow her convictions even though it costs her everything--and everyone--she holds dear? Coming in March 2015!