Lady of Secrets

Read for the Historical Romance Readathon May 2022. 4.0-4.5

Although very short, it took me a while to get through this one. I was going in blind and because the book is set during the Civil War, I was hesitant.

We meet Henrietta Wright, a free Black woman, from a wealthy prominent family. She teaches reading and writing at a school in her neighborhood. It is at this school where the book opens up and we quickly find out that Henrietta has taken a liking to Elijah, an Irish immigrant. It is at this moment we realize that Elijah has taken a liking to Henrietta, too, and feels that he has more in common with Black folks than he does with white folks. If you know, you know... If you don't– Irish folks were treated like trash back in the day. Fast forward three years, Elijah is working for Henrietta's family and they are still crushing on one another. A few years into the Civil War has mostly everyone in the family and in the family circle wanting to do more to free Black folks and become more involved in the war. We are thrust into the world where everyone is feeling the effects of war, want it to end, and want to move forward. There is love, war intrigue, marriage of convenience (in more ways than one), a little bit of an adventure and more intrigue.

Overall, I enjoyed the story being told. However, I found that there were a lot of elements that in a longer book could have been fleshed out better. There's a lot going on and at every point certain plot lines were left in limbo and then picked up later but in a disjointed manner. Certain events were resolved a bit too quickly and with too much convenience.

Positives** Featuring a free Black family that was well respected and doing very well. With all humans, it doesn't guarantee they are great people but it was nice to see nonetheless.