Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy: Four Women Undercover in the Civil War Audiobook

Quotes

• “Karen Abbott’s powerful narrative is first-rate American history about a fascinating, little-known chapter of the Civil War, as well as a compulsive, thrilling saga of espionage. Brilliant storytelling, highly accessible, and impossible to put down.”

  — Gilbert King, Pulitzer Prize–winning author

• “Thrilling, illuminating, heart-pounding. Liar, Temptress, Solider, Spy reads like a crackling espionage novel…Abbott brings to vivid life four extraordinary and audacious women and runs glorious roughshod over all our traditional notions of the role of women in the Civil War.”

  — Megan Abbott, Edgar Award–winning and New York Times bestselling author

• “Abbott…[reveals] in such vivid detail the extraordinary lives of women who involved themselves so dangerously in the Civil War. This is that rare work of history that reads like a novel—and a really good one at that—and in which the truth is more thrilling than fiction.”

  — Michael Korda, New York Times bestselling author

• “Beautifully written, meticulously researched, and paced like an edge-of-your-seat-novel—I love this big, ambitious, unstoppable book.”

  — Joshilyn Jackson, New York Times bestselling author

• “With Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy, Karen Abbott has taken history and written it with the eloquence of good fiction. Halfway through her book, I decided Ian Fleming could not have invented better spies…nor have written about them with any more suspense.”

  — Robert Hicks, New York Times bestselling author

• “Smithsonian magazine history blogger Karen Abbott has done it again. The journalist whose Sin in the Second City won her USA Today praise as a ‘pioneer of sizzle history’ has written another absorbing true tale of extraordinary women. The four talented feminine operatives of Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy all displayed a willingness to put their lives—and often their bodies—on the line to aid their side in the War between the States…It will surprise no reader of this book that Erik Larson hailed its author as ‘the John le Carré of Civil War espionage’—with the added benefit that the saga she tells is all true and beautifully researched.”

  — Barnes&Noble.com, editorial review

• “In this gripping book, Abbott (Sin in the Second City) tells the moving and fascinating story of four women who played unconventional roles during the Civil War…Meticulously researched and fluidly written, this book draws the reader in and doesn’t let go until the four heroines draw their final breaths. Abbott provides an alternate view of this tumultuous time in history by featuring previously untold stories of the impact women and civilians had on the war effort, and she brings these individuals fully to life, with their passion for their causes, personal flaws, and heartbreak…Abbott tells a remarkable story of passion, strength, and resilience.”

  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

• “This inspiring collective biography reads like a novel while shedding some much-needed light on fascinating chapters in both Civil War and women’s history.”

  — Booklist

• “Four Civil War subversives—who happened to be women—garner a lively treatment…Abbott proceeds chronologically, navigating the historical record through quotes and personal detail. Remarkable, brave lives rendered in a fluidly readable, even romantic history lesson.”

  — Kirkus Reviews

• “Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy is a masterwork of suspenseful plots and unforgettable characters rendered in exacting, gorgeous detail—a brilliant new take on the heroines and villainesses of the Civil War.”

  — Lydia Netzer, author of the New York Times Notable Book Shine Shine Shine

• “A masterpiece of narrative storytelling, backed by impeccable research and extraordinary material. I was gripped by every page.”

  — Amanda Foreman, award-winning author