When Pearl MacFarland is forced by Confederacy to take in seriously wounded Federal prisoners to give makeshift nursing care, she resists with everything she’s got. Meeting Federal Sergeant Joshua Wheeler who fights to end secession and slavery, they are both in for an eye-opening experience becoming aware of the not so black and white elements of war. While suffering under the weight of enormous responsibility, hardships and occasional experiences of danger, Pearl learns to still show compassion towards the enemy soldiers.

This makes for a very interesting story for readers who are interested in how nursing might have been carried out in a makeshift hospital during the war. We get to follow Pearl as she tries to nurse the heavily wounded, sometimes dying enemy soldiers, with little or no supplies relying on the simplest activities of care. Having no medicines, main task would be to keep wounds clean and pray patients would survive. Food supplies were scarce and irregular at best, so Pearl had to dip into the family’s emergency rations to feed soldiers.

In spite of all her everyday hardships nursing the ever increasing number of patients, Pearl’ is thankful. It impresses and humbles me that she is able to feel like that in her situation. While reading this story, I felt my appreciation for running water increase. How labor intensive it would have been to take a bath, which we all take for granted nowadays, is quite eye-opening. As is descriptions of the labor that went into changing bed sheets and do laundry by hand to keep all her patients clean to get better.

Pearl and Joshua’s relationship gets off to a really rocky start as they find themselves on opposite sides of the Civil War. Pearl blames Joshua for her loss of 3 brothers to the war and thinks the Federals are invaders who do not care about the slaves at all. That it’s all about politics. Joshua is equally adamant that the war is all about ending secession and slavery. However reluctant they both are to admit it, it cannot be denied that a closer relationship between them is developing.

I found this story to be a bit of a learning experience about American geography in addition to the Civil War history. As the story is inspired by real events, I feel there are plenty of facts to be picked up along the way. I think that is why I like historical fiction genre so much. The mix of fact and fiction spikes my interest in learning more about the issues being dealt with in the story. As a nurse there was the added bonus of learning more about makeshift nursing during the war, which I found sad, scary and entertaining in a curious mix. I wish Pearl had an easier time of it.

The faith element was an added bonus running like a read thread through the story. Pearl’s father quotes scripture, insisting Pearl should feed the enemy. Patients are also comforted by Bible reading sessions. There are quite a bit of space used for scriptures quotes which I found probably realistic, as the MacFarlands lived a quite hard life where they leaned on the Bible for strength and hope. Feeding the enemy was quite essential to the plot.

The Rebel Bride is book #10 in the Daughters of The Mayflower series. I read this as a standalone, which worked well. I would recommend this work to fans of Shannon McNear, to readers of historical fiction in general or those interested in Civil War History.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in return for my honest review. All opinions are my own.