Enemy Women: A Novel
Enemy Women, the outstanding first novel by poet Paulette Jiles, leads us into new terrain, both geographic and historical, in the war between the states. Set in the Missouri Ozarks during the Civil War, Jiles's story focuses on the trying times of 18-year-old heroine Adair Colley. When a group of renegade Union militiamen attacks the Colley home, stealing family possessions, burning everything down, and taking away her father--an apolitical judge--Adair  gathers the remnants of her clothes and mounts a rescue effort.  Unfortunately, she is falsely accused of being a Confederate spy, a charge  that lands her in a squalid women's prison run by a decent commandant  embarrassed by his post. After he helps her escape, the two agree to seek out  one another after the war; their separate, harrowing journeys and the  evolution of each character throughout make for breathtaking action and  powerful writing. Each chapter ofEnemy Womenbegins with excerpts from  historical testimony about this terrible period in the Civil War, when marauding soldiers pillaged and murdered whole families and communities at will.  These documents add depth and resonance to Jiles's remarkable narrative.--Tom Keogh--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.