High Hearts [Mass Market Paperback]

Rita Mae Brown (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1987

From the celebrated author of Rubyfruit  Jungle and Bingo  comes a stirring novel of the Civil War, a tale of  true love and mistaken identity. Brimming with  colorful characters and vivid settings, High  Hearts is Rita Mae Brown at her most  ambitious and entertaining.

April 12,  1861. Bright, gutsy and young,Geneva Chatfield  marries Nash Hart in Albemarle County, Virginia, the  same day Fort Sumter's guns fire the start of the  Civil War. Five days later she loses him as Nash  joins the Confederate Army. Geneva, who is known  as the best rider since Light Horse Harry Lee,  cuts her hair, dons a uniform, enlists as "Jimmy  Chatfield," then rides off to be with her  beloved Nash. But sensitive Nash recoils in horror  from the violence of war, while Geneva is  invigorated by the chase and the fight. Can she be all the  man her husband isn't? She'll sure as hell try.  But there is a complication, and his name is Major  "Mars" Vickers. This macho major, to his own  shock and amazement, finds himself inexplicably  attracted to the young soldier named "Jimmy."  And this is only the beginning of a novel that  moves with sureness and grace from the ferocity of  battle to the struggle on the homefront, and brings  passion and sly humor to a story of dawning love.  High Hearts is a penetrating,  delightful and sweeping tale that gives fresh life to a  fascinating  time

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

If Gone With The Wind had been written from the point of view of soldiers in the midst of battle, it might have read something like this appealing novel that deals with the stupidity of the Civil War and its effect on women. The main character is Geneva Chatfield, daughter of an old Virginia family and horsewoman extraordinaire. When she cuts her hair and follows her husband into battle disguised as a boy, she becomes an outstanding soldier. Her adventures are interspersed with episodes back on the plantation, where her mother Lutie, an old spirited slave called Sin-Sin, and other women must tend the wounded and fight their private battles. Brown (Rubyfruit Jungle, Sudden Death extensively researched this novel; her bibliography includes weather reports and family chronicles from the 1860s. As a result, an obsession with military tactics interferes with her storytelling. Although the chain of events is formulaic and the outcome less than surprising, Brown's style is energetic, her message humane, and her characters unconventional and lively.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Excitingly painted...The story rides breathlessly in  Geneva's saddle."--The New York Times Book  Review  

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (April 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553278886
• ISBN-13: 978-0553278880
• Product Dimensions: 4.2 x 0.8 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #354,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Rita Mae Brown is the bestselling author of the Sister Jane novels-Outfoxed, Hotspur, Full Cry, The Hunt Ball, The Hounds and the Fury, The Tell-Tale Horse, and Hounded to Death-as well as the Sneaky Pie Brown mysteries and Rubyfruit Jungle, In Her Day, Six of One, and The Sand Castle, among many others. An Emmy-nominated screenwriter and a poet, Brown lives in Afton, Virginia.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Personal Look at the Civil War, July 5, 2000

By 

Belinda Tuton (Crownsville, MD USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: High Hearts (Mass Market Paperback)

What a shocking book. The toll of the our most bloody war has never been so real. The descriptions of the battles and aftermath made me want to put the book down and yet never put it down. It made me want to read more about the war.

All of Rita Mae's characters are real, with their fears and flaws. Even though the central charater is Geneva, the depth of each character and their role in the dynamics of the politics of the time is brought forth. There is no minor character in this tale. Everyone, as in the war, has a story and a purpose. WONDERFUL.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enter the historian, February 15, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: High Hearts (Mass Market Paperback)

Not only breaking out of the stereotype that cast her as only being able to write lesbian novels, but also showing her mettle as a historical researcher, Brown, delivers a story with a twist -- war loving female and her poetry loving husband who is in but can't stand war. A good behind-the-battle-lines (Southern battle lines) civil war book that nonetheless escapes the usual one-side bias of American writers. The ending is a bit too convenient though.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Rita Mae Brown with a historical novel and at her usual best, July 12, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: High Hearts (Mass Market Paperback)

This author has proven in many of her books that she will know her subject well before writing about it. The book shows the horrors of the War Between the States from a different viewpoint: a newly married woman whose husband tries to help his southern community in one of this country's worst moments. Ms. Brown's research into the lives of the different people that constituted a southern plantation, gives the reader a new perspective on the relationships between owners, slaves, overseers and the other participants in southern life. Lest this review seem too focused on the educational view of High Hearts, the book is thoroughly enjoyable as a story and easy reading. Rita Mae Brown at her superb best.