The Second Mrs. Hockaday

by Susan Rivers

Seventeen-year-old Placidia, a bride of two days, is left to care for her husband's farm and his small son when Major Gryffth Hockaday is called back to the Civil War. Coming from a well-to-do family, she is unprepared to run a farm or raise a child and must depend and trust the very few servants who also live on the land.

Two years later when Major Hockaday returns, he is hurt and angry at the rumors that his wife bore a child and murdered it. He immediately demands that she be arrested. Alone at home while Placidia is in jail, the Major comes across pages of a favored book where the true story has been handwritten in the blank end pages. The secret she tried to hide is now brought to light.

Based on a true incident, we see order and relationships amongst Southerners in a new way. Wartime has brought its own desperate order. This is a love story that reveals how the Civil War brought about the beginning of changes in the country's racial divide.

As I read this book, I was struck by the sometimes difficult relationships between land owners and their servants or slaves. People were either ruled by attitude of the day or they could go against it and be ruled by what was just and right. It takes a lot of courage to go against convention to protect those who may need it most.