A Sound Among the Trees--Susan Meissner

      “There are many shapes to love, Eleanor.”

      Can a house have a memory? Can it hold a grudge? What about seeking absolution from the horrors of it's past, bringing misfortune to the women who live within it's walls? This is what Adelaide believes about her antebellum mansion, Holly Oak, in Virginia, which bore the brunt of and survived the Civil War. The way she describes it is like a record player getting stuck at a certain point on the record, playing over and over because the needle can't move past that point. Adelaide feels the house is trying to move past it's horrible background but cannot because it is stuck. Some say Adelaide's aunt Susannah was a Civil War spy and now haunts the house, looking for pardon, though Adelaide disagrees. 

      Indeed, love has many shapes, and as I read “A Sound Among the Trees” by Susan Meissner, I was shown just about every one of them: the love of a mother, the love of a child, love for your country, misguided love, sacrificial love. I was so taken in by this book that I could literally feel the places and emotions the author described. The heartbreak of a young girl separated from her loved ones by war; the cool, earthy feel of a cellar; the sticky and oppressive heat of a southern July day. Rarely does an author make me literally feel the events taking place or the very air surrounding those events, but Susan has done this in this book. I loved being taken from today's events into the very Civil War that divided families and hearing those intensely personal thoughts first hand. I definitely give this book five stars, and now I have to go back and read Susan's previous works!

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.