Marie Jakober Only Call Us Faithful

Only Call Us Faithful

Marie Jakober

Forge, May 30 2006, $14.95

ISBN: 0765303175

In the 1840s after attending finishing school in Philadelphia, Elizabeth Van Lew returned to her Richmond, Virginia home and liberated all her slaves. While her family, friends and neighbors think she has gone crazy, Elizabeth insists she has become an abolitionist.

When the Civil War breaks out, Elizabeth takes advantage that everyone who knows her thinks she is a harmless loony spinster so she believes she has the perfect cover for an espionage ring to help the North. She obtains permission from family friend Confederate General Winder to bring sustenance to Union POWs incarcerated in nearby Libby Prison and gaining the cooperation of a physician, uses coffins to free dozens of imprisoned northern soldiers by faking their deaths. Her actions grow bolder and wider in scope as Union spymaster General Sharpe realizes she is an asset while the Confederate police begin to scrutinize her activity.

ONLY CALL US FAITHFUL is a lovely biographical fiction based on the real life of Richmond espionage belle Elizabeth Van Lew. The well written story line grips the readers from the onset as the lead protagonist proves fascinating when she does not fit the behavioral mode of what is expected of a young single upper class female by her society. Readers will take immense pleasure in this enthralling account of a little known courageous heroine.

Harriet Klausner