

There are bits of Ewan’s background that easily sent chills up my spine. And for those who look for this character trait, Ewan is a redhead.Īs a fan of thrillers, I was intrigued that this book reads very much like that style of story. It’s like how music soothes the savage beast. To say that Ewan is creepy and mysterious is spot on. He’s a scary man in relation to what he’s done for their cause, but Marlie brings out the compassionate human beneath his war-torn heart. I was so curious about how the author would redeem him. Sarah and Marlie are in deeper than the prison officials know, but Ewan hazards a guess and makes good on his knowledge when he escapes.Įwan comes off as crazy as crazy gets in the beginning of this novel.

The very same books are where they hide letters going out to the prisoners’ families. He meets Marlie at the prison where he resides when she provides healing and a book cart for the prisoners. He is not ashamed of what he has done for his country, nor the freedom they’re earning for those enslaved. But will the trials of a civil war end all their dreams of a bright future?Įwan McCall has served the Union by being the worst human that war can invent. This is what Vivienne wants, more for her daughter than she can give her. Half-sister Sarah takes Marlie home with her to profit from what a white family can provide.

It’s Marlie’s turn to benefit from what is her due, now that her slave-owner father has passed on. Marlie’s mother, Vivienne, teaches her everything she knows about healing during their years together. Marlie Lynch didn’t learn about her family history from her mother, a freed slave and healer, until Marlie’s white half-sister Sarah shows up at their doorstep. A HOPE DIVIDED by Alyssa Cole radiates intelligence, human frailties and endurance in a tightly woven package of realistic historical adventure and love.
