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The Untold Story of the Abolitionist Southern Belle Who Helped Win the Civil War
by Gerri Willis
A thrilling, cinematic saga of a Southern belle whose espionage for Abraham Lincoln and the Union helped win the Civil War.
Wealthy Southern belle Elizabeth Van Lew had it all. Money, charm, wit—the biggest mansion in Richmond. So why risk everything to become the Civil War's most productive Union spy?
The answer was simple: freedom. In this gripping history of a secret espionage genius, Gerri Willis reveals how Elizabeth built a flourishing spy network in the heart of the Confederate Capitol. Flouting society's expectations for women, Elizabeth infiltrated prisons, defied public opinion, and recruited an underground movement of freed slaves, secret Unionists, and brave captives.
Putting her straitlaced Victorian past behind her, Elizabeth encountered vivid characters—assassins, socialites, escape artists, and cross-dressing spies. From grave robbery to a bold voyage across enemy lines, her escapades grew more and more daring. It paid off. Her agents were so well-placed that she had spies gathering information in both the Confederate War Department and the Richmond White House, and couriers providing General Ulysses S. Grant with crucial, daily intelligence for the war's final assault.
Deeply researched and rich with detail, Lincoln's Lady Spymaster is a remarkable true story of courage, ingenuity, and resistance. Gerri Willis pulls back the curtain on one of the most fearless heroes of the Civil War, restoring her to her rightful place as an American icon.
What are you reading this week? (6/26/025)
I'm just beginning Lincoln's Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis. Every summer a friend and I read a silly summer series just for fun. We live on opposite ends of the country and have riotous FaceTime sessions disc...
-Sunny
"Willis draws on Van Lew's published diary, a biography of Van Lew, and biographies of Civil War figures to create a brisk, well-populated chronicle of her subject's perilous work. A fresh look at Civil War history." —Kirkus Reviews
"Willis tells Lew's story with the panache of a novelist, making this work readable and accessible while still carefully researched and documented." —Library Journal
"Buckle up! Espionage, courage, and resilience are all woven into this true-life history of forgotten Civil War spy, Elizabeth Van Lew. Gerri Willis takes us on an emotional adventure as she recounts the details of this fascinating woman's life and career. Elizabeth risked it all to change the course of history, and every American should know her story." —Alison Levine, New York Times bestselling author of On the Edge
"Just when we thought the American Civil War had little new to offer, along comes Lincoln's Lady Spymaster by Gerri Willis, a masterful study of Elizabeth Van Lew, a loyal Southerner who operated a highly successful Union intelligence network right under the nose of the Confederate government in Richmond. With a keen eye for historical detail, Willis spins a yarn with enough real-life colorful characters and cloak-and-dagger twists to make even Ian Fleming blush." —William B. Feis, author of Grant's Secret Service
This information about Lincoln's Lady Spymaster was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Gerri Willis is the host of Fox Nation's Real Tough Women and Fox Radio's Fearless and Proud podcast. She was also a host on Fox Business. She lives in Westchester, New York.
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