title: The Rebel Wife: A Novel
author:  Taylor M. Polites 
description: "This engrossing novel about a resilient heroine in the post-Civil War South has all the drama of the era and none of the cliches."--"O, The Oprah Magazine"<br /><br />"This is a wonderful first novel--passionate and brave. It removes the skin of an era, and questions so many of the tropes that hover around 19th century southern American literature. It was Faulkner who, in the 20th century, talked about the voice of fiction being inexhaustible. Taylor Polites has extended our narrative reach into yet another time. A fascinating, genre-subverting historical novel. "--Colum McCann, author of "Let the Great World Spin"<br /><br />"Taylor Polites's "The Rebel Wife" is the love child of William Faulkner and Margaret Mitchell, and sister to Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 'Yellow Wallpaper.' A gripping look at Reconstruction-era Alabama through the mind of one flawed, desperate woman."--Lenore Hart, author of"The Raven's""Bride"""and"Becky"<br /><br />"["The Rebel "Wife] shatters the myths that still cling to the antebellum South and creates an unforgettable heroine."--"Mobile Register"<br /><br />"The aftermath of the Civil War--specifically, the Reconstruction era in Alabama--comes to vivid life in Taylor M. Polites' debut novel, which dispels some of the myths associated with that period of our history . . . Polites has peopled his well-researched account with an intriguing cast of characters, each of whom contributes to Gus' awakening to the postwar realities she now must face alone . . . Polites' debut is a historically accurate and compelling depiction of the postwar South, in all its divisiveness and discord."--"Book Page"<br /><br />"The best historical novel is the one we forget is a historical novel . . . Taylor M. Polites pulls off just such sleight of hand in his gloriously gothic, moody post-Civil War novel, "The Rebel Wife" . . . an expertly packaged history lesson about the massive social and economic upheaval that was Reconstruction, where fortunes changed hands, the word 'freedom' lost its meaning, and Yankees weren't the only enemies of 'the sons and daughters of the defeated South.' . . . [S]plendidly researched . . . "The Rebel Wife" offers a valuable new perspective.""--Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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  The Rebel Wife
  
  
  
  
  
  By
  
  
  
  
  
  Elizabeth Bramwell
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Also by Elizabeth Bramwell
  
  
  The Dashing Widow
  
  The Foolish Friend
  
  His Darling Belle
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Forthcoming in 2017:
  
  
  A Novel Miss
  
  The Penniless Peer
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  © Elizabeth Bramwell – all rights reserved
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  For my sisters.
  
  
  
  
  
  Remember, no matter what happens in life
  
  
  
  
  
  I will always be younger than you
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Rebel Wife
  
  
  
  
  
  One
  
  
  “I hate you! I wish my brother had never met you! No wonder he hasn’t come
  back from the Continent yet, you would make him as miserable as the rest of
  us!” squealed Lady Helena, before stamping her little foot and flouncing out
  of the room.
  
  Her sister-in-law and object of hatred, Kate, the Duchess of Lexborough, wife
  to Alexander Weatherly, the fifth Earl of Lexborough, sat back in her chair,
  her eyes closed as she pinched her brow. “That went well,” she remarked.
  
  “She should not have said such things, truly she 