Will I love Enemy Women?

This is Paulette Jiles's first novel. It tells the story of Adair Colley, a Southern woman from blood-stained Missouri who is imprisoned during the Civil War. Reminiscent of Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, Adair journeys home after winning her freedom through ever-present danger and uncertainty. (Her trek ends more happily than Inman's.) Although I enjoyed the story, I wished we would have seen more of the "Enemy Women" who shared Adair's cell, for this aspect of the Civil War was new to me. I also wish Jiles would have used quotation marks on the dialogue in this book. At times,… show more.

Here's another amazing woman—angry, determined 18-year-old Adair—who travels through Missouri’s brutal Civil War landscape looking for her father. Jailed in St. Louis under horrid conditions for suspected Confederate sympathies, she brawls with a fellow prisoner, strategically worms her way into the prison matron’s good graces, then captures the heart of a Union interrogator who helps her escape.

I am not a horse person, but Jiles’s description of Adair’s relationship with her horse Whiskey is otherworldly and totally converted me. One nightmare scene follows another as Adair makes her way back to her family home, and I love the resourceful… show more.

I love this book mainly because the main character is an ordinary young woman with grit who defies all hostility in Missouri during the Civil War, including neighbors who turn against her.

I went through lots of emotions with this character during her journey to finding love, from anger and trepidation to wonder and exhilaration. The setting, historical context, and unsentimental yet tender and poetic writing make this book a triumph. 

This book took me somewhere new for a Civil War novel—the border state of Missouri.

Jiles is a poet, which is evident in her evocative prose. Visceral and unexpected details in every sentence put me right into the story of the young women from Missouri whose father was taken and whose home was destroyed by Union militia despite the family’s neutrality.

I found the excerpts from real letters and newspapers at the beginning of each chapter intriguing. Readers will be captivated by eighteen-year-old Adair, who is courageous, smart, and spirited.

Set during the Civil War, this novel of Adair Colley, a young Confederate woman in a Union prison who falls in love with her jailer, proves that love can thrive even in the midst of horrific suffering.

The book also has one of literature’s most compelling portraits of a horse, who is just as much of a character here as the humans.

This story takes place during the Civil War, a complex time, which makes this a complex story. It’s a beautifully written novel, and Jiles’ experience as a poet serves her well. I love nothing more than beautiful sentences, and add to that a likeable main character such as Adair Colley, and those two combinations equal win/win. While Adair is reminiscent of Scarlett O’Hara, her background is quite the opposite. What made the story also stand out for me was each chapter began with actual correspondences, diary entries, and accounts taken during this timeframe. It enhanced my reading in that I… show more.