About the Book

Book: River of Peril

Author: Sandra Merville Hart

Genre: Christian Historical Romance

Release date: October 15, 2024

Amnesia stole his memory, and now he’s fighting for the wrong side.

Orphaned and alone at sixteen, Felicity has found solace in serving others as a volunteer nurse. When she discovers her Confederate soldier beau, Luke Shea, among the wounded in her ward, her worst nightmares come true. Luke’s shrapnel wound has stolen his memory, leaving him with no recollection of their love or his past. As Felicity struggles with the loss of the man she once knew, she turns her attention to the service of her broken country. But the more she learns about the brutal war, the more she realizes she can no longer stay silent. She becomes a Union spy, plunging herself into danger.

When Luke Shae awakes in a hospital with no memory of the last five years, he’s shocked to learn he’s been fighting against the Union he once so strongly supported. And when he learns of his past courtship with his nurse, Felicity, he struggles to understand the man he was and what happened in those missing years. Determined to atone for his Confederate past, Luke also joins the Union cause as a spy.

As danger lurks at every turn, only a Divine hand can not only protect their lives, but give them a second chance for love and the future they both crave.

Click here to get your copy!

About the Author

Sandra Merville Hart, award-winning and Amazon bestselling author of inspirational historical romances, loves to discover little-known yet fascinating facts from American history to include in her stories. Her desire is to transport her readers back in time. She is also a blogger, speaker, and conference teacher.

More from Sandra

“History will never know how indebted it is to folks like you in ending the war.” ~ River of Peril

People spied on their government, their soldiers, and their neighbors during the Civil War. Union spies in the South lived dangerously. Everyday citizens, including enslaved and free black spies, became heroes to speed the war’s end.

Secret messages were sewn into hems, vests, and coats. Cyphered messages were hidden in bodices, hoop skirts, trees, hats, styled hair, books, custard dishes, hollowed-out eggs, and even in vaults with a dead body. Raised/lowered shades and clothes hanging on a line might also be clues for spies.

Some spies were already actors. Others disguised themselves to deliver secrets and to protect their identity. There were female spies who disguised themselves as men. If they could manage to remain anonymous, it saved them from their neighbors’ retaliation during and after the war. This was especially true in the South because the North emerged as victorious.

Many spies were caught during the Civil War and often imprisoned for days or weeks, up to a year. Confederate spies could sign an Oath of Allegiance to the United States to be released from Union prisons. Both sides executed spies.

For reasons already discussed, history doesn’t record most of Mississippi’s spies. Two Mississippi spies, Robbie Woodruff and Philip Henson, didn’t slip into obscurity.

Robbie Woodruff was a courageous farm girl who fetched Confederate messages from town and hid them in a hollow stump for couriers. Philip Henson, one of the Union army’s greatest spies living in the South, was captured and imprisoned for several months.

Key characters are spies for the Union in River of Peril, Book 5 in my Spies of the Civil War Series. The spies in my Vicksburg portion of the series (Books 4 – 6) are fictional. The stories show the type of challenges faced by historical spies.

My research for this novel began with a trip to Vicksburg, Mississippi. I was greatly inspired by the battlefield, the museums, and the people in the historic city. That inspiration—and a whole lot of research!—led to the writing of Streams of Courage, Book 4, River of Peril, Book 5, and Tides of Healing, Book 6.

Avenue of Betrayal, Book 1, is set in the Union capital of Washington City (Washington DC) in 1861, where a surprising number of Confederate sympathizers and spies lived. Boulevard of Confusion and Byway to Danger are set in Richmond, the Confederate capital in 1862. Actual historical spies touch the lives of our fictional family. The heroines in Books 1 – 3 are two sisters and their cousins. Another set of characters begin with Book 4, and three friends are the heroines in Books 4 -6.

Through both real and fictional characters, this series highlights activities spies were involved in and some of the motives behind their decisions.

I invite you to read the whole Spies of the Civil War Series!

Blog Stops

Babbling Becky L’s Book Impressions, October 16

Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, October 17

Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, October 18

Devoted To Hope, October 18

Happily Managing a Household of Boys, October 19

Texas Book-aholic, October 20

Locks, Hooks and Books, October 21

CONNIE’S HISTORY CLASSROOM, October 22

Betti Mace, October 23

For Him and My Family, October 24

Holly’s Book Corner, October 25

Pause for Tales, October 26

Cover Lover Book Review, October 27

Life on Chickadee Lane, October 28

Jodie Wolfe – Stories Where Hope and Quirky Meet, October 29 (Author Interview)

Mary Hake, October 29

Giveaway

To celebrate her tour, Sandra is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon card!!

Be sure to comment on the blog stops for extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter.

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/00adcf5469

Interview

Thanks for the interview, Jodie!

Sandra, if you could give advice to a newbie writer, what would it be?

Don’t pin all your hopes on publishing one particular story, article, devotion, or book. Once the piece has been submitted, move on to the next project. Perhaps you have an idea for a short story. Begin whatever research is necessary and then begin writing it.

Or start thinking about the next book. Get to know your characters—using a character worksheet or interviewing the main characters are great tools. Whether you write historical books or not, there is always research. For example, learning about your character’s occupation or the climate where she lives or about her city.

Whatever the writing task, continue working while you wait to hear about your submission.

Do you have a favorite character you’ve created? Tell us about them.

One character I’ve created that has resonated with many readers is Rose Hatfield in A Not So Convenient Marriage (Second Chances Series, Book 1.) Rose, a spinster schoolteacher, had fallen in love with Samuel while they were in high school but he married someone else. When his wife dies in a riding accident, Samuel needs help raising his two young children on his farm. He proposes to Rose, who prays this is a second chance at love for them.

This is the story that wouldn’t let me go. It woke me up at night to rethink a scene. I thought of it before the alarm went off. This happened daily for years. It was one of the first books I wrote and I revised it several times after rejections. Even when I set it aside to work on other books, this story haunted me daily.

Rose’s story didn’t give me peace until it was published. I’m glad I didn’t give up. One reader told me that Rose is her favorite character ever. Wow! 

Do you use humor at all in your writing?

There is some humor in my stories but it’s always accidental! Family members tell me I am funny when I’m not trying and not when I am. The honesty of those who love me best convinced me not to try to write humorous scenes. However, I’ve found myself laughing when I go back and reread certain sections. So…the answer is no, not intentionally. 😊

Is your book part of a series?

Yes, River of Peril is Book 5 in my Spies of the Civil War Series. I had discovered through researching my other Civil War novels that Vicksburg, Mississippi, was a city that President Lincoln and Union General Ulysses S. Grant wanted to capture and occupy because of its prime location along the Mississippi River. I learned that Grant’s determination to capture the city caused the citizens many hardships. Through the everyday lives of three friends and their beaus, the readers will experience the turmoil with them in Books 4-6.

In River of Peril, Felicity is working as a volunteer nurse while her beau Luke serves the Confederate army in Virginia. Her worst nightmare occurs when Luke arrives in her ward with a shrapnel wound with amnesia.

He doesn’t remember her or the war. 

What are you currently working on?

I am working on edits for Tides of Healing, Book 6. It’s the final book in the series.

The Southern general surrenders Vicksburg and his army on July 4^th after a long siege. The changes the Union army makes to her beloved city are difficult for Savannah and she initially clashes with Travis, a ruggedly handsome Union lieutenant. Before long, she begins turning to him for help in a city she barely recognizes.

Then she meets a Confederate sergeant who wants to take back the city. He’ll need her to spy. The danger magnifies a thousand times with Union soldiers at every turn, especially Travis who always seems to appear when she most needs him, unlike her father.

Savannah agrees but Travis must never know.