The Glory Cloak: A Novel of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton
Women's friendships are at the center of this appealing historical novel that spans the years 1850 to 1888 and links the lives of Louisa May Alcott and Clara Barton. Narrator Susan Gray, a fictitious third cousin who joins the Alcott household after being orphaned in her teens, is 10 years Louisa's junior but becomes her confidant. Together, Louisa and Susan leave home to join the Civil War effort by nursing at a Washington hospital, where they meet Barton, a beloved figure on battlefields, and injured soldier John Sulie, allegedly a blacksmith with suspiciously gentlemanly ways. As love grows between Sulie and Louisa, Susan also is attracted to him, leading to relationships complicated by war, politics, illness, and emotion and a rift in the friendship that takes years to mend. O'Brien, whose previous novels were contemporary, does a nice job with the language of the period and provides an afterword to help separate fact from fiction. With its vivid portrayals of a wartime hospital and of Andersonville, this is a briskly paced, engaging work of historical fiction.Michele LeberCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved