Dreams of Savannah by Roseanna M. White

Summary

Cordelia Owens can weave a hopeful story around anything and has long since won the hearts of Savannah's society with her whimsy. Even when she receives word that her sweetheart has been lost during a raid on a Yankee vessel, she clings to hope and comes up with many a romantic tale of his eventual homecoming to reassure his mother and sister.

But Phineas Dunn finds nothing redemptive in the horrors of war. Struggling for months to make it home alive, he returns to Savannah injured and changed. The beliefs he once held about slavery and the entire war have been upended, and he's all too sure that he is not the hero Delia seems determined to make him.

When the Confederacy deems Savannah a lost cause and the future wavers, Phin and Delia must both decide where the dreams of a new America will take them--and if they will go there together.

Positives

Dreams of Savannah is a bit slower of a story than I was used to from Roseanna M. White. Considering its predecessors (Shadows Over England, Codebreakers, The Nature of a Lady), it was remarkably short on spies, codebreakers, thieves, or treasure hunters. But it didn’t fall any short of any of her other novels.

Delia was an interesting addition for me. I must admit, I tend to like the tough girl heroine. Delia certainly wasn’t that. And yet, her romantic way of viewing the world and active imagination drew me in just as much as any of the other heroines I have related to. It was a good reminder to me that softer heroines have just as much impact as tougher ones.

Phin and Luther’s meeting and relationship wove some truths worthy of thought into the story, and then explored those thoughts well through their tension.

Negatives

None.

Conclusion

Dreams of Savannah succeeds in bringing both hope and thought into a reader’s life. And it definitely deserves a home on a bookshelf of good reads.