Sunflower Sisters

A Novel

By: Martha Hall Kelly

Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld, Shayna Small, Jenna Lamia, Cassandra Campbell, Martha Hall Kelly

Length: 17 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

Martha Hall Kelly’s million-copy best seller Lilac Girls introduced listeners to Caroline Ferriday. Now, in Sunflower Sisters, Kelly tells the story of Ferriday’s ancestor Georgeanna Woolsey, a Union nurse during the Civil War whose calling leads her to cross paths with Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and conscripted into the army, and Anne-May Wilson, a Southern plantation mistress whose husband enlists.

“An exquisite tapestry of women determined to defy the molds the world has for them.” (Lisa Wingate, number one New York Times best-selling author of Before We Were Yours)

Georgeanna “Georgey” Woolsey isn’t meant for the world of lavish parties and the demure attitudes of women of her stature. So when war ignites the nation, Georgey follows her passion for nursing during a time when doctors considered women on the battlefront a bother. In proving them wrong, she and her sister Eliza venture from New York to Washington, DC, to Gettysburg and witness the unparalleled horrors of slavery as they become involved in the war effort.

In the South, Jemma is enslaved on the Peeler Plantation in Maryland, where she lives with her mother and father. Her sister, Patience, is enslaved on the plantation next door, and both live in fear of LeBaron, an abusive overseer who tracks their every move. When Jemma is sold by the cruel plantation mistress Anne-May at the same time the Union army comes through, she sees a chance to finally escape - but only by abandoning the family she loves.

Anne-May is left behind to run Peeler Plantation when her husband joins the Union army and her cherished brother enlists with the Confederates. In charge of the household, she uses the opportunity to follow her own ambitions and is drawn into a secret Southern network of spies, finally exposing herself to the fate she deserves.

Inspired by true accounts, Sunflower Sisters provides a vivid, detailed look at the Civil War experience, from the barbaric and inhumane plantations, to a war-torn New York City, to the horrors of the battlefield. It’s a sweeping story of women caught in a country on the brink of collapse, in a society grappling with nationalism and unthinkable racial cruelty, a story still so relevant today.

©2021 Martha Hall Kelly (P)2021 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“A beautifully written, intricately researched window into the lives of women in a world we can scarcely imagine today.... Sunflower Sisters took me on a journey that swept me up in its pages and left me pondering deeper truths in the end. It’s a read filled with sisterhood, risk, reward, and plenty of fodder for book clubs.” (Entertainment Weekly)

“Kelly’s prose flows beautifully across every page, bringing to life the women impacted by the horrific war that tore apart the country and countless families.... Much of Sunflower Sisters is heartbreaking...but there is also much hope and joy in the courage, fortitude and victories of those courageous and determined to succeed and survive.” (Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)

“A well-researched, realistic narrative.... It’s the women and their activism that tell the story of the struggle to end slavery. They become the real heroes of the war. Kelly tells this story without either romanticizing or sweeping over the horrors that split the nation in the nineteenth century and continues to do so today.” (The Spokesman-Review)

A great reminder of our greatest weaknesses and strength

This was a wonderful book and was very well performed. Many parts are hard to hear, but are important. The characters are well developed and are very real, and you understand their motivations. This book does a great job demonstrating how people can excuse away bad behavior. Racism is well described in this book and shows a great spectrum of how it can appear (some unfortunately will sound all too familiar in modern days). This novel is a great reminder of our terrible history, the struggles to do better, and the rewards of perseverance.

Another great Wolsey story

I enjoyed this very much. The characters inspire me! Excellent writing! It helped me feel as though I know them and as if I were there.

Well worth listening to!

It was a little drawn out at times, but overall it was a great story and I loved the ending! And learned more about history, as there’s a lot of non-fiction in this book as well. The authors comments at the end of book are awesome, love how she explained the likeness of characters in the book to real life history!

Outstanding

Love historical fiction and this is one of the best series. I love the way each of the books is intertwined by the characters. Made the reality of the CivilWar and the horrors of slavery Come to life and gave me as a reader a deeper understanding into that time. Well done and thank you to the author.

Historically accurate characters

The characters draw you in slowly but steadily. The Woosy family is a real family with much of the events described actual events in their lives. Jemma’s fictional story is intertwined around these actual events.

The Closing of a Beautiful Piece of History

This is the final book of the Woolsey-Ferriday family written by Martha Hall Kelly. This story focuses on the Civil War Era through the eyes of a Union Nurse, Georgiana Woolsey, an enslaved young woman Jemma, and a plantation owner's wife, Anne-May Watson.

Martha Hall Kelly, knowing these are her first three books, is truly gifted in the art of telling a story through the eyes of the protagonists. Her style of taking three worlds and coming together to create the climatic point of the story is wonderful to read. I give Martha the greatest respect in all her work and research giving thought and purpose to bring the story forward.

The narrators did a tremendous job in providing voices for the characters. In listening, you can get a feel of each character and their representation. I must be honest in saying the male parts were a bit comical in a few places but all over, the listener can tell who is speaking through the scenes.

in closing, this story is eye opening to parts of history I was unaware of. I'm truly grateful to read this and will recommend it to others who ask for my suggestion.

Fabulous Historical Fiction

I'm going to miss the Lilac Girls and the generations before them. Thank You Ms. Kelly for telling their stories.

Great read

Loved the characters, the story and the readers were very good, don’t miss this book

great perspectives of all characters

The beginning seemed slow,but as the chapters developed so did the characters, their lives, and their personalities. Excellent historical fiction.

Don’t Miss!

Having read Lilac Girls, I was excited to read Sunflower Sisters next. (I didn’t know about Lost Roses, so I’m looking forward to that now too!)

I actually liked this one better than Lilac Girls. I think it being set entirely in America and being in the Civil War made the difference for me. Once again Martha Hall Kelly does a brilliant job of weaving multiple viewpoints and narrators into one story. I love when authors do this, especially when the characters’ lives interact.

Just as it was brave to include the perspective of a Nazi doctor in Lilac Girls, so was it brave to include the perspective of Jemma’s enslaver. I think Kelly does a great job of showing everyone’s viewpoint in an authentic way. The amount of research she puts into her work is inspiring.

The narrator’s performances were phenomenal—really brought each character to life!