I Shall Be Near To You brings historical fiction to an interesting yet not often talked about occurrence from the 19th Century, women pretending to be men in order to enlist. Erin Lindsay McCabe manages to make the subject both historically interesting while presenting a story that was interesting and moving. Something many may not know is that woman masquerading as men to enlist was a real event. In the Civil War alone there are many recorded cases of it happening, and almost certainly many more that were never recorded. It is clear that McCabe did solid research not just of Civil War battles but of the home life of the time. Everything beat felt historically right, which is something I often feel is missing from much of the historical fiction I read. This book also manages, with one exception, to avoid the trap of having the book involve major… Read more »
