The Last Silk Dress

Susan Chilmark is 14 and living in Richmond at the time of the Civil War. She's a strong supporter of the South but her brother is the town gossip as he refuses to join the Southern army. Her mother is certifiably crazy and really nasty to her (in today's world Susan would be removed from the home in a moment once the authorities found out.)

She wants to do something for the Cause, so she ends up spearheading an effort to gather up silk dresses and ship them off so they can be made into an observation balloon.

It turns out to be more complex than that, though, as she meets an artist who is a Yankee, deals with gambling hall ladies (to get their silk dresses), and begins to question what is going on, both in her personal life and in the events around her.

The author, as usual, does a really good job in giving the reader a view of the complexities of what was going on at the time. Her characters are interesting and realistic, and the reader can see how the events going on have an immediate effect upon those living there. This is definitely another very-worth reading book in her long historical series of books.

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