By Roseanna M. White
Cordelia "Delia" Owens dreams up stories, stories of heroes doing deeds of daring, of knights coming to the rescue of a maiden in need of rescue. She apparently doesn't see the darkness in the world around her if her stories are any indication, but the light and lightness she brings to those around her is why so many enjoy her presence. Delia's secret wish is to be rescued by Phineas "Phin" Dunn and be swept away in a romance. But war is upon them and Phin is on the eve of his joining up.
With Delia's promise to wait for him forever Phin joins up with the Confederate's Navy, but war opens his eyes to new horrors. And when he is betrayed he is feared lost. But the promise of "Forever" gives him something to live for. And Luther's care opens his eyes even further to the evils of slavery - Luther, a free black man, whose wife was stolen and sold as a slave.
With her family pressuring her to marry, Delia struggles to cling to her belief that Phin will come back to her. But can a man who has seen and experienced what he has, truly return as the same person? As the world she knows begins to crumble around her Delia must decide what she believes and where her loyalties lie - is it with the South, her family, or the people she has come to know and love?
Dreams of Savannah offers a glimpse it the world that was the South, a world divided but what freedom truly means. Is it for a few or for all? Everything worthwhile comes with a cost and sometimes that cost is fighting for what is right even in the face of opposition This is the lesson that both Delia and Phin must learn as they see beneath the world of privilege that they grew up in - a world that has been built on the backs of those held in bondage.
Dreams of Savannah is a departure from what one has come to expect from Roseanna M. White. Rather than setting her book in England, we are taken to Savannah, Georgia, at the height of enthusiasm for the Southern cause. Should Phin and Delia have been more aware of the plight of those enslaved in their households? Probably, but all too often, even in today's world, we are blinded to the sins of the world around us until it directly impacts our personal or professional lives. This is, unfortunately, a sad truth that most people have fallen into - we need to see with empathy beyond our own known world, to try to see the other side and hopefully gain a small measure of understanding.
This book while touching on the horrors of war and slavery does not get into all the gritty and gruesome evils that one might expect. This book is on the clean/gentle reads side of the spectrum of the genre. This is a good read and the discussion question at the back of the book offers the reader a chance to think deeper about the subjects touched on. Good for reading on your own or as a book club selection.
I was provided a complimentary copy of this book with no expectations but that I provide my honest opinion - All thoughts expressed are my own.
About the Book:
Cordelia Owens can weave a dream around anything and is well used to winning the hearts of everyone in Savannah with her whimsy. Even when she receives word that her sweetheart has been lost during a raid on a Yankee vessel, she clings to hope and comes up with many a romantic tale of his eventual homecoming to reassure his mother and sister.
But Phineas Dunn finds nothing redemptive in the first horrors of war. Struggling for months to make it home alive, he returns to Savannah injured and cynical, and all too sure that he is not the hero Cordelia seems determined to make him.
As the War Between the States rages ever nearer and Savannah’s slaves start sneaking away to the islands off the coast to join the Yankees, both Phin and Cordelia get caught up in questions they never thought they’d have to ask–questions that threaten the very dreams of a future they’d cherished.
