High Hearts

Rita Mae Brown

- 4.8 • 8 Ratings

- $5.99

- $5.99

From the celebrated author of Rubyfruit Jungle and Bingo comes a stirring novel of the Civil War, a tale of true love and mistaken identity. Brimming with colorful characters and vivid settings, High Hearts is Rita Mae Brown at her most ambitious and entertaining.

April 12, 1861. Bright, gutsy and young, Geneva Chatfield marries Nash Hart in Albemarle County, Virginia, the same day Fort Sumter's guns fire the start of the Civil War. Five days later she loses him as Nash joins the Confederate Army. Geneva, who is known as the best rider since Light Horse Harry Lee, cuts her hair, dons a uniform, enlists as "Jimmy Chatfield," then rides off to be with her beloved Nash. But sensitive Nash recoils in horror from the violence of war, while Geneva is invigorated by the chase and the fight. Can she be all the man her husband isn't? She'll sure as hell try. But there is a complication, and his name is Major "Mars" Vickers. This macho major, to his own shock and amazement, finds himself inexplicably attracted to the young soldier named "Jimmy." And this is only the beginning of a novel that moves with sureness and grace from the ferocity of battle to the struggle on the homefront, and brings passion and sly humor to a story of dawning love. High Hearts is a penetrating, delightful and sweeping tale that gives fresh life to a fascinating time.

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY APR 1, 1986

If Gone With The Wind had been written from the point of view of soldiers in the midst of battle, it might have read something like this appealing novel that deals with the stupidity of the Civil War and its effect on women. The main character is Geneva Chatfield, daughter of an old Virginia family and horsewoman extraordinaire. When she cuts her hair and follows her husband into battle disguised as a boy, she becomes an outstanding soldier. Her adventures are interspersed with episodes back on the plantation, where her mother Lutie, an old spirited slave called Sin-Sin, and other women must tend the wounded and fight their private battles. Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle, Sudden Death extensively researched this novel; her bibliography includes weather reports and family chronicles from the 1860s. As a result, an obsession with military tactics interferes with her storytelling. Although the chain of events is formulaic and the outcome less than surprising, Brown's style is energetic, her message humane, and her characters unconventional and lively.

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