Boston Athenæum

September 16, 2015 at the Boston Athenæum. "Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War", a spellbinding work of historical restoration, recounts the courage and audacious duplicity of four remarkable women who played seminal roles in the Civil War. Two working for the Union and two for the Confederacy, these women, until now all but forgotten by history, came from varying backgrounds and regions. Yet each risked everything—money, honor, family connections, and even her life—in order to further the cause in which she adamantly believed. Abbott, who draws on a wealth of primary source material as well as interviews with the women’s descendants, illuminates these interwoven lives with the assured hand of an historian and the narrative grace of a novelist.