I Shall be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe

Shortly after Jeremiah and his friends Henry and Jimmy O’Malley and Sullivan “Sully” Cameron leave, an event happens that causes Rosetta to also leave her new home. Thus with two weeks to go before Jeremiah leaves, they marry. However, Rosetta does not want him to go without having the chance to first be his wife. Rosetta knows her beau, Jeremiah Wakefield, and his friends plan to enlist. The novel opens in Flat Creek, New York during the early part of 1862. Throughout the novel, one feels what Rosetta felt and gains a greater understanding of her character and what it took to drive her actions. This adds a level of intimacy that draws the reader further into the story. In this historical novel, the story of Rosetta Edwards Wakefield is presented in the first person.

I Shall Be Near to Youby Erin Lindsay McCabe This entry was posted in Patron Picks and tagged 50th anniversary book challenge, civil war, fiction. in Publishing from Rosemont College She’s currently a web writing manager at Hibu, a digital marketing company. She graduated from Southern Virginia University with a B.A. She’s been reading classics, literary fiction, mysteries, children’s lit, narrative nonfiction, and much more ever since. Check availability on a copy of I Shall be Near to You : Physical bookĪbout the reviewer: Angela’s addiction to reading must have started sometime around second grade when she finished her first chapter book, Bruce Coville’s The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed. Turner, Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier, or Neverhome by Laird Hunt. I would recommend I Shall Be Near to You for fans of These Is My Words by Nancy E.

Rosetta’s thoughts on war, family, and a woman’s role in society, as well as McCabe’s harrowing description of the bloody Battle of Antietam transcended the page and will not be soon forgotten. Throughout the novel, I kept thinking, “I really wish Rosetta could somehow share a meal and conversation with Ada Monroe.” The two main characters (Rosetta and Jeremiah) were extremely well-drawn, and Rosetta’s narrative voice was every bit as unique, engaging, and believable as any in the literary canon. While primarily a love story (a moving and realistic one at that), I Shall Be Near to You surprised me with its terrifying and riveting portrayal of 19 th century life during war. I Shall Be Near to You is one of the rare cases where the novel itself lives up to the author reviews and jacket cover blurbs. I Shall be Near to You By Erin Lindsay McCabe Review by Angela DeMott

I Shall be Near to You by Erin Lindsay McCabe