This is why I love historical fiction. I got to spend some time in a period I am not super familiar with, and learned about people I did not know existed. What I really loved about this story was the ambiguity. No one seemed to know how exactly to feel, because their world was in a constant state of change. It was interesting to read about the end of a war, as I've mostly read about surviving during a war. Here, you get a glimpse of the losing side of a conflict, and how they dealt with their losses.
I have never seen beliefs confronted and dealt with in such a way. The characters each reacted differently to moral questions. Some held fast to their assumptions, while others became defensive but contemplative. Change is a difficult but inevitable part of life, and in some books, it is made to look easy. In With This Pledge, the author seems to deliberately explore how hard it must have been to confront your way of life, and the principles you have killed and been willing to die for, only to discover you were wrong. This book almost forces the reader to confront their own beliefs as well. If this book had been written from a Union perspective, I would not have felt any sympathy for the wounded, bed-bound Confederate soldiers, and would have rooted for them to all be thrown in jail, whether or not they would have survived. Sometimes fiction can force us to examine our own humanity by forcing us to live others shoes.
I'm not able to speak to the accuracy of the research done, but I can say that WTP is so detailed that I can only assume it was thoroughly researched I got a peak into the reality of living in Carnton without ever feeling like I was reading a textbook. This is not a boring recitation of facts, but a beautiful examination of finding love and justice in the most trying of times.
* Special thanks to Tamera Alexander, Thomas Nelson, and TLC Book Tours for providing a copy of With This Pledge in exchange for an honest review.