I Shall Be Near to You
- Paperback: 336 pages
- Publisher: Broadway Books (September 2, 2014)
In
I SHALL BE NEAR TO YOU, McCabe
introduces us to newlywed Rosetta Wakefield. More accustomed to working
as her father’s farmhand and happiest doing what others might call
“man’s work,” Rosetta struggles with how to be a good wife to her
childhood beau and new husband, Jeremiah. When Jeremiah leaves home to
join the Union army, Rosetta finds the only way she can honor Jeremiah
is to be with her husband—no matter what.
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Cutting off her hair and donning men’s clothing, Rosetta enlists in
the army as Private Ross Stone so that she might stand beside her
husband. Joining, however, is the easy part, and now Rosetta must not
only live and train with her male counterparts as they prepare for
imminent battle, but she must also deal with Jeremiah, who is struggling
with his “fighting” wife’s presence, not to mention the constant threat
of discovery.
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In brilliant detail, inspired by the letters of the real Rosetta
Wakeman, McCabe offers a riveting look at the day-to-day lives of these
secret women fighters as they defied conventions and made their personal
contributions to history. Both a tender love story and a hard look at
war,
I SHALL BE NEAR TO YOU offers a unique
exploration of marriage, societal expectations, and the role of women in
the Civil War through the lens of a beautifully written novel.
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About Erin Lindsay McCabe
Erin studied literature and history at University of California,
Santa Cruz, earned a teaching credential at California State University,
Chico, and taught high school English for seven years. Since completing
her MFA in Creative Writing at St. Mary’s College of California in
2010, Erin has taught Composition at St. Mary’s College and Butte
College. A California native, Erin lives in the Sierra Foothills with
her husband, son, and a small menagerie that includes one dog, four
cats, two horses, numerous chickens, and three goats.
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