For the Colleys of southeastern Missouri, the War between the States is a plague that threatens devastation, despite the family's avowed neutrality...
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Jan 23, 2008
Kd
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Awesome book made even better by primary source material from the period at the beginning of each chapter. This book made war so real and common in the lives of the little people, ie. not soldiers and armies but the ones living on and near the battlefields. I often forget that war rages across homes, not just nameless acres inhabited by no one. This is one of the few wars fought across our American homeland, and we need to remember the little things, like pictures, favorite cooking utensils, an
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Jan 22, 2012
Lizpeveto
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Read for a book discussion group. Excellent book. Having been to MO, I was aware of how many Civil War battles were fought in the state. The descriptions of the political complications for both Union and Confederate is what makes the story personal because it details how it impacts individuals, disrupts families, whole communities and the breakdown of social order. It was so difficult for friends and neighbors as half were Confederate and half were Union and sometimes there was no choice. I
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Jul 08, 2011
SarahC
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This novel says a lot about the complicated process of fighting a civil war in such a geographically large country as the U.S. What to do in the western states when it comes to the mix of loyalties there, especially in Missouri? How do you police areas like these? And what happens when the militia goes rogue? Is this the type of atmosphere anyone was fighting the U.S. Civil War to gain? No, probably not, but it certainly came to be, lasting past the actual end of the war.
On opposite More...
On opposite More...
Oct 09, 2010
Barb
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"...she watched her breath appear before her in the lamplight and then it died away in the moist clouds. This was the smoke of her internal fire and her soul. Every breath was a letter to the world." Thus begins Adair's story. On the cusp of the civil war as an innocent but strong willed 18 year old, through the loss of family, home, freedom. Through her falling in love, her escape from prison, and her return to home again, her story will catch your imagination. Throughout this book yo
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Jul 05, 2009
Melinda
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I enjoyed this book about the Civil War which was reminscent of Cold Mountain in that in brings together then rips apart a man and a women who seem destined to be together. This story focuses on the plight of natives of southeastern Missouri, a place where sides are not clearly chosen and battles occur not only between the North and South, but also between the locals who resent the presence of either force on their land and form their own resistance group that functions much like guerillas. Ca
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May 18, 2011
Dana
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For three years the American Civil War has been raging. Judge Marquis Colley of southern Missouri has managed to maintain neutrality but he is finally arrested by Union soldiers. The Union soldiers stole their livestock and tried to burn the house down. His eldest daughter, Adair, age 18 and her two sisters Savannah and Mary decide to go to Iron Mountain to get their father back.
On the way there Adair is arrested as a spy and put into a female prison. Major Neumann is charged with inte More...
On the way there Adair is arrested as a spy and put into a female prison. Major Neumann is charged with inte More...
Aug 22, 2011
Paula
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Jun 04, 2011
Harmonybites
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This entire novel is told without using quotation marks for dialogue. Personally, I can't help but find this a literary affectation without artistic value that sacrifices clarity without any gain. I recently read and loved Alice Walker's The Color Purple, which also doesn't use quotation marks. But that novel was told through letters, and the writer was supposed to be semi-literate, so there it worked, and Walker's novel flowed well enough, was riveting enough, it didn't bother me in the least.
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May 04, 2010
Suzanne C
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I really wanted to like this book. I usually enjoy Civil War stories & I have visited SE Missouri, so I could picture it in my mind. But this book was awful! The author gave no real background of the characters, and no insight into what was going on mentally and emotionally. Because of this, there was no connection with them; I just didn't care enough about them to continue reading past page 70. The other thing that bothered me about this book was the way it was written. Many sentences wer
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Aug 10, 2011
Phyllis
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Is it me or have I been having less luck than usual. It's a long time since a book grabbed me and wouldn't let me go. Thinking of books such as the Kiterunner, e.g. It's been too long recently without a 5 star book (from my point of view) Enemy Women should have been non-fiction. It was exhaustively researched, and the author cared about her topic since it deals with the part of the Ozarks where she grew up. But I found the characters poorly developed and the story wandering. The author couldn't
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Aug 12, 2009
Ann-Marie
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The cover copy & blurbs mention Cold Mountain repeatedly, and indeed, it did remind me strongly of Cold Mountain. (There’s actually an Iron Mountain that figures in the story.) But this time, it’s a woman who’s making a journey home, from prison in St. Louis to what remains of her family’s burned out farmhouse in southeast Missouri. The language (dialect) was wonderful and the prose poetical. Horses feature almost as characters in their own right. Really engrossing story.
Here's a qu More...
Here's a qu More...
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Aug 31, 2010
Em
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Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles is a Civil War tale set in St. Louis, Missouri.
Adair Colley is an eighteen-year-old lady whose family vowed to remain neutral during the time of war. However, the Union soldiers ruined their house and took their father away leaving her with the responsibility to take care of her two younger sisters.
But shortly, Adair, like many other women sent to prison, was falsely accused of aiding the guerillas. While behind the bars, Adair caught the attention of Ma More...
Adair Colley is an eighteen-year-old lady whose family vowed to remain neutral during the time of war. However, the Union soldiers ruined their house and took their father away leaving her with the responsibility to take care of her two younger sisters.
But shortly, Adair, like many other women sent to prison, was falsely accused of aiding the guerillas. While behind the bars, Adair caught the attention of Ma More...
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Jan 24, 2010
Jody
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Story is from the civil war in Southern Missouri where apparently it was especially a guerrilla-type war. What I especially liked about this story is it was from a young (very independent) woman's point of view... and it/she didn't feel as passive as Cold Mountain did. She and her sisters leave their homestead after their father is wrongly taken by some Union militia. She protects and cares for her sisters on the road... until she is arrested due to accusations made by other refugees. She is
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Aug 22, 2011
Serena
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Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles is set during the U.S. Civil War in Missouri, which is torn apart by Union ties and Confederate rebel robberies and mischief. Adair Colley’s father is taken by Union militia on suspicion of helping rebels, and the union soldiers have ripped through their home and taken many of their belongings. Following the capture of her father, she and her sisters walk to inquire about their father’s imprisonment and to possibly barter for his freedom. However, along the jour
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Jul 21, 2011
Jenifer
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Bah! I read 100 pages of this and realized that I had been "eye reading" only. Nothing was making an impression in my head and I didn't even really know what was going on. There were sentences that seemed to be quite lyrical and I felt like this book deserved an honest chance. So I started over. Really. I tried to like it. I really thought I was going to find it beautiful and meaningful. Not so. I thought it was uneven in so many ways from the relationships and progression of the story
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Nov 30, 2011
Danna
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Now that I've ranked it with 4 stars I'm hard-pressed to explain why. I think I was drawn to the imagery and poetic expression of this very articulate writer. For example, lightning bugs as "bone-lights" ... who would have thought? The historical background was another draw for me as I read it on the heels of "Team of Rivals". Southeastern Missouri was its own kind of burned-over district during the Civil War and what happened there under militia control, martial law and the
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Aug 03, 2011
Leah
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Enemy Women was recommended to me, and honestly, I picked it up and read it in one day. I just really wanted to see what was going to happen. And I don't come across that experience very often.
This book follows Adair Colley from her home in southeastern Missouri to a Union prison and back again during the Civil War. Interspersed with real Civil War documents shows that Adair's struggles were far from unique. Atrocities became commonplace and survival no easy feat. She loses home, fam More...
This book follows Adair Colley from her home in southeastern Missouri to a Union prison and back again during the Civil War. Interspersed with real Civil War documents shows that Adair's struggles were far from unique. Atrocities became commonplace and survival no easy feat. She loses home, fam More...
Nov 24, 2008
Grania
rated it:
I'm reading this for school. But it's actually a very wonderful story, and I'm enjoying it.
Well. I've finished it. It was a very good book, and I had no idea most of this stuff even went on during the war.
Well. I've finished it. It was a very good book, and I had no idea most of this stuff even went on during the war.
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Sep 13, 2009
Jennifer
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This novel is set in Missouri during the Civil War and shows the chaos of that area. The "regular" Union and Confederate armies had less a presence than the militias and guerillas, who seemed to raid and destroy randomly but thoroughly. The book focuses on the ordeal of one young woman as her home is raided, her father arrested, she is arrested and jailed on suspicions of spying, she and one of the Union soldiers fall in love, and then she makes the long journey home on foot. The bo
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Jun 23, 2009
Elizabeth
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Great read! This book revealed to me a side of the Civil War I had never explored, the war's impact on noncombatants in the border states. As a resident of Missouri, I am familiar with the setting, and read the book with the Missouri Atlas & Gazetteer at my side so I could track Adair's journey. Jile's descriptions of the Missouri terrain are spot-on. Other reviewers have objected to the lack of quotation marks and the unusual dialect. The lack of punctuation was no problem to me, and I found th
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May 11, 2011
Nicole
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I really wanted to like this book. It seemed like a good story when I picked it up, but in the end it just didn't work.
The lack of quotation marks was awful. It took me twice as long to read because I couldn't figure out who was talking.
As for her relationship, there was so much more that could have been done but it was never fleshed out AT ALL! As others have said, I am much more convinced she loved her horse more than she did him.
The whole book just didn' More...
The lack of quotation marks was awful. It took me twice as long to read because I couldn't figure out who was talking.
As for her relationship, there was so much more that could have been done but it was never fleshed out AT ALL! As others have said, I am much more convinced she loved her horse more than she did him.
The whole book just didn' More...
Jun 05, 2011
Gaile
rated it:
Well researched and well written, this is about the atrocities of the Civil War in Missouri. Young Adair after her home is broken into by Union troops and her father kidnapped, finds herself on a train for St. Louis denounced as a confederate spy. Separated from her sisters and her brother, she meets Major William Neumann who urges her to escape and promises to find her after the war. Although these two never get very close, the attraction between them is very vibrant. Adair has many adventures
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Jul 11, 2011
Lois
rated it:
The best novel I have read in a very long time - Missouri during the Civil War, fascinating history, beautifully written. The role of rogue militias, guerrilla fighters and their impact on non-combatants was new to me. Adventure, suspense, romance and a spirited young heroine ( reminiscent of Scarlet O'Hara?) you care about who has to lie and steal in order to survive. Each of the short chapters is introduced with selections from primary sources - journals, letters, official reports, etc. One
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Jan 26, 2011
Colleen
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I was afraid that this would be a female take on "Cold Mountain" but I needn't have worried. Although it was, at its most basic, the same story--a protagonist's long, harrowing journey through the Civil War-torn landscape back to loved ones, the two were not alike at all. Paulette Jiles is a poet and it shows here. Her prose is uniquely and beautifully written. She uses lots of sentence fragments (normally I hate that--to me, it's the mark of a bad writer), which is odd, yet works-
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Apr 22, 2009
Lisa
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I really liked this book. I loved that it covered a part of the Civil War that I wasn't aware of before - how women were wrongly accused of being spies, martial law eradicating laws and rights of the people, local militias, and how the war affected people in Missouri.
What I didn't like was the lack of quotations when people were speaking and the ending. I don't want to go into it anymore than that because I don't want to ruin it for anyone.
I would recommend this book to a More...
What I didn't like was the lack of quotations when people were speaking and the ending. I don't want to go into it anymore than that because I don't want to ruin it for anyone.
I would recommend this book to a More...
Sep 10, 2010
Christine
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
To view it, click here
May 15, 2011
Karen
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If I could give one suggestion, it would be to skip the Prologue altogether unless you are really into Civil War history. I almost stopped reading the book after just 7 pages, but once the story of Adair gets into full swing, it was much better in my opinion. Her storyline then sort of pulsates on like a slow drumbeat until the final page. Nothing too exciting, but constant. Growing up in So. Missouri, Adair really does not have an opinion on which side, Confederate or Union, she should symp
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Aug 20, 2009
Melissa
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http://gerberadaisydiaries.blogspot.com/...
Enemy Women is the Odyssean tale of Adair Colley during the final years of the Civil War. Adair has lost her family and her home to a gang of renegade militia men patrolling southeastern Missouri. She is later falsely accused of being a spy for the confederacy, and sent to prison. There she meets Union Maj. William Neumann, who is in charge of deposing her, and in doing so, they both become besotted. Ultimately, Adair escapes prison and More...
Enemy Women is the Odyssean tale of Adair Colley during the final years of the Civil War. Adair has lost her family and her home to a gang of renegade militia men patrolling southeastern Missouri. She is later falsely accused of being a spy for the confederacy, and sent to prison. There she meets Union Maj. William Neumann, who is in charge of deposing her, and in doing so, they both become besotted. Ultimately, Adair escapes prison and More...
Mar 05, 2008
Kate
rated it:
Interesting look at the effects of the Civil War on noncombatants (particularly women) in Southeastern Missouri...made even more interesting by the fact that I've been to quite a few of the places mentioned in the book.
Also notable was the way that the line between soldier/noncombatant got pretty blurred...people cutting telegraph lines, militias operating outside of the regular US and CSA armies with guerilla tactics, etc. Reminded me a bit of the situation our soldiers are in in More...
Also notable was the way that the line between soldier/noncombatant got pretty blurred...people cutting telegraph lines, militias operating outside of the regular US and CSA armies with guerilla tactics, etc. Reminded me a bit of the situation our soldiers are in in More...
Mar 19, 2008
Amanda
rated it:
First of all I have to admit that if I knew much about the Civil War or was highly interested in this subject, I may have given this book 5 stars. I learned about woman’s role in the civil war which is something that I had never heard of or read on before (big surprise), nor had I given any thought to. I had no idea of the things that went on, and right in my area too. This book is set in Missouri, and primarily St. Louis with a lot of references to Alton.
All in all it’s a really More...
All in all it’s a really More...
