Book Review #39: The Secrets of Mary Bowser

Have you ever read a novel based on history (historical fiction) that just leaves you feeling drained, depleted, elated, relieved, proud, ashamed, angry, sad, happy, and amazed all at the same time?:

Those are some of the feelings I experienced while reading this book.  

This book is truly one of the very best books I have ever read, not counting some of the classics like Les Miserables, Tale of Two Cities, The Secret Garden, Jane Eyre, etc. This book has left me wanting to know more about Mary Bowser.  What happened after the Civil War? Did she really get to meet Abraham Lincoln?:

STORY SUMMARY

Mary was a slave girl in Virginia for the very wealthy Van Lew family of Richmond.  Her mama was also a slave in the house but her papa was a slave for a different owner who ran a blacksmith shop.  Mary only got to see Papa on Sundays when they went to church.

Bet, the stubborn daughter of the Van Lew family, decides to send Mary to Philadelphia so she can be educated.  But Mary must leave her family to gain this freedom.  Mama is also now considered a "free slave" but she decides to stay in Richmond as she refuses to leave her husband.

Living in the North is very different than in the South.  Mary gains new friends (Hattie), a courtship with Theodore, that thankfully doesn't last, and a much different education than she expected.  It leads her right into the center of the abolition movement!

The nation is heading towards war.  She defies Virginia law and returns to Richmond to care for her ill papa.  She also is fighting for Emancipation.  Virginia law said that once a slave was free, she/he could not return as a free slave. 

Mary poses as a slave in the Confederate White House, known as the Gray House, under President Jefferson Davis.  She is spying on him and his associates all the while pretending to be an uneducated slave girl.  Mary deceives those closest to her to aid the Union command.

If finally seems that all of her courageous acts will help to end slavery.......and then she discovers that everything must come at a cost.....even freedom.

MY THOUGHTS

I can't say enough positive things about this novel.  I had never heard of the author until I read this book. It is marvelously written. You really feel like you are transported back to a very dark time in history where white people were just horrible to the black people.  I was ashamed of my country..the southern part of our nation, while reading this book. I was proud of our Northern states for taking the stands that they did.....yet....once a slave was "free" was he really free?  There was still racial prejudice and they still had no rights as citizens.

This book brings out the little known facts of the real Mary Bowser.  She really was a slave girl and she really was a spy.  There is a photograph of her in the back of the book but it is difficult to see her features.  The little comment under the photo says "She seems to be hidden in plain sight----just as she was during the Civil War."  There is not much documentation about Mary Bowser. But she really was a spy along with Bet Van Lew and Thomas McNiven...they were actual people working together to spy on behalf of the Union.  

Bet Van Lew did keep a diary but many pages were lost (intentionally) when the diary was hidden during the war.

Thomas McNiven left his memoirs with a daughter before his death and he mentions how Mary Bowser was his best source of information.  He mentions how, like in the story, she was working right in the Davis' home and had a photographic memory.  Anything she saw on the President's desk, she could repeat word for word. She really did marry Wilson Bowser in 1861.  And there are indications that she really was educated in Philadelphia after being freed by the Van Lew family.....no definitive evidence though has been discovered.

This book is a must read for anyone who enjoys the history of the Civil War or has a heart for the African American population of our country. 

You will be asking your self......are there really still prejudices today even after all these years...even after the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s when I was a little girl??

Let's search our hearts......and beg God's forgiveness if we have ANY kind of prejudice towards ANY person who is different than us.

In my opinion, this book is appropriate for ages 12 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this a 10.