Book cover of Measure of Devotion

Book description

Set against the tumultuous backdrop of the American Civil War, this intricately woven novel delves into the life of Susannah Shelburne, a thirty-six-year-old woman residing in South Carolina with her older husband, Jacob. Their son, Francis, defies his parents' wishes by enlisting in the Confederate army, sparking bitter familial discord.…

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1 author picked Measure of Devotion as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Joslin’s title comes from the Gettysburg Address, in which, standing before a blood-stained Gettysburg field, Abraham Lincoln extolled the virtues of those men who had given the “last full measure of devotion,” to the war effort. The devotion in this novel is that of a mother for her son. When Susannah, the daughter of an abolitionist, mother to a Confederate soldier, receives word that her son has been gravely wounded, she travels from South Carolina to Tennessee to tend to his wounds. This is a heart-breaking story well-told that explores the forgotten history of the Civil War homefront and the…

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