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The Rebel Wife

Taylor M. Polites

3.20 · Rating details · 1,365 ratings · 263 reviews

Brimming with atmosphere and edgy suspense, The Rebel Wife presents a young widow trying to survive in the violent world of Reconstruction Alabama, where the old gentility masks a continuing war fueled by hatred, treachery, and still-powerful secrets.

Augusta Branson was born into antebellum Southern nobility during a time of wealth and prosperity, but now all that is gone

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Hardcover, 304 pages

Published February 7th 2012 by Simon Schuster

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Jan 03, 2012 Emma Deplores Goodreads Censorship rated it it was ok

Shelves: historical-fiction, united-states, southern-fiction, 2-stars, amazon-vine-reviews

This book starts out well enough: it’s reasonably well-written and has good descriptions and a vivid depiction of life in Reconstruction-era Alabama. Nevertheless, I wound up quite disliking it; this seems like a novel that would appeal to a certain subset of historical fiction readers, but not to everyone.

In a small Alabama town in 1876, Augusta Branson’s husband dies a mysterious, bloody death in their bedroom. Augusta quickly realizes that everyone around her has their own agenda, that she do This book starts out well enough: it’s reasonably well-written and has good descriptions and a vivid depiction of life in Reconstruction-era Alabama. Nevertheless, I wound up quite disliking it; this seems like a novel that would appeal to a certain subset of historical fiction readers, but not to everyone.

In a small Alabama town in 1876, Augusta Branson’s husband dies a mysterious, bloody death in their bedroom. Augusta quickly realizes that everyone around her has their own agenda, that she doesn’t know who she can trust, that a large amount of her husband’s money has apparently gone missing and that she’s going to need that money.

While the novel starts off pretty well, it soon loses steam. Which, for me, it never really regained. The plot was much more straightforward than I expected (although, in all fairness, at 282 pages it’s a very short book). It’s also definitely horror-influenced; the first 100 pages or so is all about building atmosphere, with everybody hiding things for one reason or another (in some cases, for no reason I could deduce except that it added to the suspense). Full disclosure: I don’t like horror, and in picking out this book was more focused on its marketing as a sort of anti-Gone With the Wind than in the oft-used descriptor “gothic.” Well, it’s quite gothic (read: creepy), but it isn't really a 21st century “answer” to GWTW, except insofar as there are former slaves in the book who aren’t infantilized and a burgeoning KKK that isn’t praised. Which I would hope to be true of all modern fiction dealing with that era. The scope, style, subject matter, even the genre, are otherwise too different to allow for much comparison even if this book was that good, which it is not. (For all its racism, GWTW is an excellent novel in many, many ways--and I find it kind of amusing that even in lauding this book as different, the marketers want to grab onto its coattails.)

Although, to the book’s credit, it does handle the setting well. There is a good look at how society changed (and stayed the same) after the Civil War, and you get a sense of the culture beyond the demands of the plot. There’s a look at the politics of the time without getting too bogged down, and at how emancipation didn’t really mean freedom for a lot of people who stayed in the same place where they’d been slaves.

But then there are the characters. Augusta’s decently well-developed, and manages to be convincingly a 19th-century southern white woman while still being mostly sympathetic by modern standards. But the rest of the cast feels rather flat, probably because of the dialogue, which is.... flat. I could not hear the characters’ individual voices or speech patterns in their words--and this is a book with a lot of talking, where much of the character development depends on it. They did not come alive.

I debated between 2 and 3 stars (for the right reader, this may be a very good book), but am going down to 2 because I personally did not enjoy it. ...more

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Dec 15, 2011 Misfit rated it liked it

Shelves: amazon-vine, snoozefest, one-time-read-only, post-civil-war

Augusta (Gus) Branson finds herself widowed after her husband dies of a mysterious blood fever and a bit surprised when the executor of her husband's will breaks the news that she's not exactly a well-to-do widow. But wait, is there something else going on here? What is this missing saddle bag of her husband's that former slave Simon is searching high and low for? And who would want to stop Simon and Gus from getting it? Or perhaps Gus has been hitting that laudanum bottle too heavy and she's im ...more

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Mar 22, 2012 Lauren rated it it was ok

Shelves: southern-lit, 2012-reads, historical-fiction

This book’s title and description captivated me the first time I saw it at my bookstore (by the way, did I mention I got a side job at my local bookstore?). When I first opened its crisp new pages, I was expecting to be whisked off to one of my favorite places: the Civil War-era South, with rows upon rows of cotton fields and Southern manners and a high society coping with their loss of money, relations, and culture.

Instead, I got the poor man’s version of Gone with the Wind. At 282 pages, it is This book’s title and description captivated me the first time I saw it at my bookstore (by the way, did I mention I got a side job at my local bookstore?). When I first opened its crisp new pages, I was expecting to be whisked off to one of my favorite places: the Civil War-era South, with rows upon rows of cotton fields and Southern manners and a high society coping with their loss of money, relations, and culture.

Instead, I got the poor man’s version of Gone with the Wind. At 282 pages, it is pretty short, and while it has a lengthy bibliography at the end, it just seemed really… off. Some things were mentioned that didn’t seem to be historically accurate (not that I’m a big history buff, but were lawn mowers around back then?), and the way the protagonist treats her slaves/servants as though they’re almost equals is not typical of the time.

The book takes place a few years after the end of the Civil War. Augusta’s husband dies within the first few pages, and the remainder of the book chronicles her life as she deals with his demise. She doesn’t deal with it in an emotional way - their marriage was not one of love or mutual respect - but she deals with it financially, suddenly finding herself poor. She doesn’t tackle this problem like my favorite Southern heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, who grows food for herself and her family with her own hands, runs her own business, uses her charms to seduce wealthy men into marriage, etc. Augusta is the most spineless and uninspiring of characters who decides to go on a sort of treasure hunt with one of her servants for a bit of cash that her husband was rumored to have had in his possession before his untimely demise. Meanwhile, a horrible illness is sweeping the city and forcing people to flee before a government-ordered quarantine is put in place.

It was all a bit… awkward. The book felt like it was modeled after GWTW in that the protagonist finds herself poor after the war, she marries for money, the old gentry of the South don’t agree with her marriage and shun her, the marriage is loveless but produces a child, she’s still in love with a family friend from her childhood, etc. However, she is not Scarlett O’Hara by any measure. She mildly does what her husband asks of her, she knows that people are stealing from her and insulting her but does not bother to confront them 90% of the time, and she is addicted to a drug called “laundanum”. I know Scarlett had her battle with alcohol, but drugs?! Augusta is a flake.

I guess my main complaint was that I was going into this book thinking it would be a romance. Not the sort of “tender embrace” romances that are actually placed under the “Romance” sign at the bookstore, but at least something that would rouse some sort of emotion in me. With a title like The Rebel Wife, wouldn’t you expect the same? Instead, Polites seemed like she was legitimately trying to make an argument about society during this time period, and she wasn’t concerned with trying to disguise it with a respectable protagonist or plot. In between the many, many references to politics at the time, she makes the argument several times: women during this time period were like slaves. They don’t get the freedom to marry who they want, they don’t get the freedom to vote, they don’t get the freedom to choose to obey their husbands or not (especially when it comes to their bodies), they don’t have the freedom to conduct their own affairs or to manage their own money, and they don’t have the freedom to snub society and do whatever they want.

I get it. And I think it’s an important lesson we’ve learned. However, I would be lying if I said I preferred this social and political piece of work over the charms of Rhett Butler. ...more

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Mar 25, 2019 Melodie rated it it was ok

Shelves: fiction-adult, 5000-books-2019, historical-fiction, southern-lit

This is a dark,Southern Gothic story of the Restoration era. A young woman,widowed after a decade long unhappy marriage, finds herself surrounded by servants, family and a community that she doesn't trust.
Augusta has been raised in the lap of shabby southern gentility, then wed into "Northern" money and shunned for it, then brought back into the fold after the husband dies. And as was the norm in the era, her husband's estate was left to her young son. Instead of a the trustee being Augusta or ...more

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Nov 26, 2011 Tara Chevrestt marked it as dnf

Shelves: 2012-release, vine, historical-fiction, arc, civil-war

The Rebel Wife. Key word, attention grabbing word: REBEL. Uh.. what makes the heroine of this book a rebel?

I made it to page 113 before just setting it aside...probably for good. Gus is newly widowed, okay. Her husband had a gruesome death. Okay. But again, what makes her a rebel??? She never spoke up to her husband when he was alive, doesn't really speak up enough to the Judge who is now taking control of her estate, doesn't speak up to her "servants" who talk to her in a way she doesn't approv ...more

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Feb 02, 2012 Burgandy Ice rated it it was amazing

This book is very interesting and unique.

It takes place in 1875 in the Deep South. The Civil War is over, but emotional upheaval continues boiling in the south over civil rights. I was reminded of The Help as I read how Gus related to the servants. She loves Emma, who raised her, but now she's feeling jealous of her son's love for Emma. But this book evokes more parallels with Gone with the Wind, which I haven't read, and the beautiful southern belle.

I thoroughly enjoyed the author's dive into ...more

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Sep 30, 2011 Stuart Smith rated it it was amazing

At its core this is a novel of freedom set in a time when freedom was questioned for so many across the south. Polites really hones in on the desperate tones of Augusta, her staff and those in town fearful of sickness. And in that desperation is an excitement that really keeps a reader enthralled and keeps the pages turning. Like Augusta, I (as a reader of her story) didn’t know who to trust and who to believe. The mystery really gives this novel some juice.

The moment in the book that grabbed me ...more

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Jul 28, 2012 Martha rated it really liked it

Shelves: debut-novels

This is a stunning debut novel with a little of something for everyone--and I mean that in a good way. There is history (how many novels conclude with a six page bibliography?), there is character development, and there is an element of suspense. What is most admirable is the writer's style. He sketches out the bones of the small Alabama town of Albion (fictional) and its characters. Then, after the death of her husband, as narrator Augusta (Gus) awakens to the reality of her world and the dece ...more

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Jan 31, 2012 Tiffany rated it it was ok

Shelves: first-reads, books-i-own, historical-fiction

I have to be honest, I am not really a fan of this book, although I enjoyed the second half far more than I enjoyed the first half. My major concern is the writing. To me, the writing was extremely slow paced, although the second half went by much faster. Also, the earlier flashback scenes seemed to be faster as well. The writing was especially dragging when the author got caught up in the details and really set the scene. He would describe every minute bit of the scene and it would take away fr ...more

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Nov 10, 2011 Sharon Huether rated it it was amazing

Shelves: first-reads

The Rebel wife by Taylor M Polites Thankyou Goodreads. This was a wonderful book. The story took place after the slaves were freed, some had no place to go, so they remained with their former owners. It was the Antebellum South. A young widow whoes relatives and late husband, were not the most honest of men. She was very strong in her beliefs of what was right and what should be hers from her late husbands estate. It wasn't only herself, but she had a young son and loyal servants she wanted to h ...more

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Nov 10, 2011 The Lit Bitch rated it really liked it

Shelves: first-reads

Saturated in rich, golden prose Taylor Polites’s novel, The Rebel Wife, oozes engrossing detail and with such a commanding voice/tone from the first page….I found it difficult to put down. The novel contains whispers of literary delight from beloved American classics such as Gone with the Wind and is told with a dark edge which echos William Faulkner.

Just as the blazing cover suggests, this novel radiates from within….a golden Southern Gothic novel sure to win the hearts and admiration of many r ...more

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May 11, 2018 Jeanne rated it really liked it

We first meet Augusta "Gus" Branson as her husband, Eli, is dying a slow, painful death. Gus is shut off from all feelings. As a former Southern belle, she has been shielded and babied all her life. It is as if she exists in a bubble of ignorance of everything around her. The South has lost the Civil War and it has been ugly. Former slaves are now wage-earning employees. Gus is being faced with the challenges of life without her protector in the dangerous Reconstruction Era. Layer by layer, the ...more

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Jul 10, 2012 T rated it it was amazing

Shelves: historical-fiction, contemporary-literature

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even staying up late to finish it in one day. A review quoted on the cover calls it a "fascinating, genre-subverting historical novel." I couldn't agree more--the book jacket might lead you to expect an apologist postbellum romance or some other garbage. This is not that. This is historical fiction--not romance--at its best.

The Rebel Wife is written in first person, and the tone evokes the personality of the heroine from the start. Gus is cold, detached, and calc I thoroughly enjoyed this book, even staying up late to finish it in one day. A review quoted on the cover calls it a "fascinating, genre-subverting historical novel." I couldn't agree more--the book jacket might lead you to expect an apologist postbellum romance or some other garbage. This is not that. This is historical fiction--not romance--at its best.

The Rebel Wife is written in first person, and the tone evokes the personality of the heroine from the start. Gus is cold, detached, and calculating. She is not written to be sympathetic or anachronistically egalitarian or feminist. Nevertheless, as you experience her growth as a character your sympathy for her grows as well. One criticism, however, is that her character during the events of the book make me question what her personality was like while her husband was still alive. I very much had the sense that Gus has woken up with her husband's death--to take more interest in her affairs and the world around her (including especially the servants). Her ignorance about everything (from servant intrigues to her husband's role in the community to the political alliances in town) suggests that she was dead to the world during her ten years of marriage. But before her husband is cold, she suddenly transforms into her new cunning self?

The most interesting ongoing theme of the book is freedom and independence for former slaves and women. For the first half of the book Gus is essentially forced into passivity, waiting at home (as mourning rules dictate) for her cousin, the trustee of the estate, to come tell her what money may be left from her husband (whom everyone believed to be wealthy (view spoiler)). Gus's frustration (at her own ignorance about her husband's business affairs and her inability to judge whether the men around her are telling the truth or lying for their own gain) became my frustration. I wanted to scream at the paternalism and malignancy of the characters she had to contend with. A lot of historical fiction treats issues like this lightly--i.e. glossing over how land was entitled away from females or assets were held in trust and administered for them. This is the only novel I've read that made me feel how frustrating and terrifying it would be to have my finances taken out of my hands and even out of my ability to question, by someone supposed to have my best interests at heart.

The real triumph of this book for me is how it upset my expectations time and again. Reading the synopsis, I expected a Southern gothic romance where the old lover comes back to woo and support the beset widow. (And don't get me wrong, I was totally down for that cheap entertainment.) I was surprised by how, as an official review said, the book turned the tropes of the "chivalrous Southern gentleman, the good mammy, and the defenseless Southern belle" on their heads. I had read the review, so I expected that to be done. But I expected it to be done in a way that gratified modern readers and made for a more pleasing story--not for, as it turned out, a more challenging and honest story. I was also surprised as expectations I developed early in the book were also destroyed. (view spoiler) And when I flipped to the book jacket to read about the author, my mouth fell open in shock to see that this wonderful heroine had been written by a man (sexist of me, I know). What a thoroughly surprising treasure of a book. I look forward to more by this freshman author. ...more

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Oct 16, 2012 Kristen rated it it was amazing

Impressive command of the era's politics and history, without that getting in the way of the story, which was also excellently told. I kept turning the pages, thinking here the author will indulge himself in what for me is a breather, with pages of digression, those boring bits that I often skim through, but it never happened.

Gus Branson, the rebel wife of the title, must deal with her husband's horrible death - by poison? Disease? He was a "scalawag," a southerner who cooperated with the Union ...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Brandi rated it it was ok

Shelves: 2012

I won this book as a Goodreads Giveaway Winner. I was very excited to begin it and anticipated the book showing up in my mailbox. Unfortunatly, I found this book very flat and dull. I had to force myself to read it and finish it. It was very forgetable to me and I went whole days at a time without a thought of it before I remembered that I was reading it and should finish it. The majority of the characters were flat and predictable, some I even wondered why they even had a place in this story.

I ...more

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Nov 09, 2011 Keri rated it really liked it

Shelves: goodreads-giveaways

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.

First of all, I believe this book is far from a light and easy read, which explains why it took so long for me to finish it. But this does not go to say that the book isn't fantastic.

The book is hard to get into. I found myself either confused or bored during some moments. Early on, I also found Gus unlikeable. As the story progressed, though, I was really pulled in. It is very suspenseful and the setting of the war-torn South, plagued b ...more

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Mar 17, 2013 Shari Larsen rated it really liked it

Augusta Branson is a young widow trying to survive in the violent world of Reconstruction Era Alabama. When her scalawag husband dies, ( man she was to forced to marry by her mother) dies of a mysterious illness, at first she is relieved to finally be a widow, but when she finds that the fortune she expected to inherit is gone, she is forced to fend for herself and her young son. She slowly awakens to the new reality of her life; her social standing is stained because of her marriage, she is alo ...more

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Feb 13, 2012 Kara rated it liked it

Shelves: relative-in-title, owned, historical-fiction

Real rating: 3.5 stars.

I very much enjoyed the writing style - the present tense, almost stream of consciousness feel, the extremely vivid descriptions. It really kept me in the moment. I also liked the Gone With the Wind era setting (though a decade or so later). It's not the South's finest moment, but a compelling stage for a drama. My main gripe was that this particular drama was so narrowly focused. The plot consisted only of finding one hidden object with a number of obstacles simmering in ...more

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Dec 23, 2011 Rachel rated it liked it

This would have been a really good novel as it has more historical details about what happened to the Southern towns after the Confederate defeat in Civil War. It talks about the former slaves still working for their families and often-times not getting paid; it talks about the Reconstruction and the Carpetbaggers taking over; it talks about trying to define the new roles and talks about the horrors of the KKK being formed and talked about racism. However, if this was to be a mystery, it did a p ...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Jenny rated it really liked it

I was hoping to win this book from Goodread and I'm happy I did. From the very first page I enjoyed the vivid descriptions... "The humidity hung in the air like wet sheets shimmering in the sunlight.". I enjoyed the realistic aspect, not romanticizing the aftermath of the Civil War. Times were hard both financially and emotionally for the South as the nation was rebuilt. Looking through Augusta's eye, the reader glimpses the turmoil brought on by the early civil rights movement and the uncertain ...more

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Feb 19, 2012 Michelle rated it it was amazing

I LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!!! The imagery was rich and full, the symbolism of the plague coming but also coming in the form of the White Knights, a potential husband immediately after the death of Gus' husband, the frantic search for the missing pouch, all the secrets Gus' husband kept from her, herself realizing she was no better than a slave, was traded to her husband for a chest of confederate notes...I could go on and on.
I think I need to re-read this book again, at another time, at a slower pac ...more

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Sep 24, 2012 Janet rated it it was ok

It was okay. I think a die-hard Southerner would like this more than I did, because it seems like Southerners love to read about the Civil War. This book dealt with post-war Alabama, with the main character a Scarlett O'Hara clone. The only thing that kept me reading was I wanted to find out if she ever found the money that she and her hired hand were looking for (in between complaining about how hot it was, and flashbacks to before the war, flashbacks to what men told her happened during the wa ...more

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Dec 31, 2011 Sandy rated it liked it

Shelves: civil-war-historical-romance

Well, this was written in the genre that I enjoy the most and that is Civil War, pre and post war. This book kept my attention enough to finish the book, but truthfully, I am glad this was just a library loan as I would not have wanted to spend money to buy it. I only read this book because of all the hype that there was about it. The hype was a waste of time and money as this is not the book that they lead everyone to believe. It's a hard book to follow and very slow.

However, I was right with t ...more

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Feb 03, 2012 Rebecca rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audio-books, historical-fiction

This book was not really what I expected, but I enjoyed it. It was much more raw and really showed what everyone was going through at this specific time in Alabama. Through the writing I could really feel everyone's high emotions and the struggles of each character. It really made me appreciate the struggles of both women and freedmen in the South after the Civil War. I believe the author did some extensive research for this novel. Though it was sad and a little crazed at time, I liked the endin ...more

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Nov 14, 2011 Sabrina rated it liked it

Shelves: first-reads, my-next-read

I absolutely loved the back drop for this book! I was born in the South so I always have an affinity for books that can transport me there. Obviously, Ms. Polites definitely has a way with words. However, I found that the use of too many words may have taken away from the way the story unfolded. Sometimes less is more.

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May 05, 2012 Naomi rated it really liked it

There were numerous things that I enjoyed about this book. First off, there was a light gothic feeling to it which I think is typical for the period it was written. Second, I love historical fiction novels which are, obviously, well researched and this one was. Third, the characters were well developed and the storyline didn't stick to something dry. ...more

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Feb 24, 2016 Frau Sorge (Yuki) rated it it was ok

Shelves: southern, historical, mystery, read-2016

Using the Southern Gothic tradition to explode literary archetypes like the chivalrous Southern gentleman, the good mammy, and the defenseless Southern belle, The Rebel Wife shatters the myths that still cling to the antebellum South and creates an unforgettable heroine for our time.

Well, does it, really?

(Shh.. it doesn't.)

...more

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May 21, 2013 Miranda Lane rated it it was amazing

Excellently captured the tumultuous post-Civil War era. Kept me hooked throughout its entirety with its engaging writing style and character depth. Would recommend this to anyone who enjoys historical fiction.

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Jul 24, 2014 Ashley rated it liked it

I ended up liking the book. I would have rated it higher if the 1st half the book read like the last fourth. Good character development of Gus from the beginning of the novel when she becomes a widow to the end of the novel when she..... Well, I won't give it away. ...more

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Feb 02, 2017 Jessica Jewett rated it it was amazing

This is much closer to the reality of a Southern woman's life in the Reconstruction period than most other novels I've read. Gus makes the reader feel her claustrophobia and uninformed life with every word. I was very pleasantly surprised by this story. ...more

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About Taylor M. Polites

Taylor M. Polites

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Taylor M. Polites is a novelist living in Providence, Rhode Island with his small Chihuahua, Clovis. He graduated in June 2010 with his MFA in Creative Writing from Wilkes University. He has lived in Provincetown, Massachusetts, New York City, St. Louis and the Deep South. He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in History and French and spent a year studying in Caen, France ...more