Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review of this book. Unfortunately I was not able to download this book before it got archived and am not able to give a review. I will look out for it at my local bookstore and online. I was very excited to read it.

I found That Dickinson Girl: A Novel of the Civil War by Joan Koster to be a pretty good read. I am giving five stars.

My thanks to both NetGalley and the publisher for an advanced copy of That Dickinson Girl A Novel of the Civil War by Joan Koster in exchange for a fair but honest review.

“That Dickinson Girl” is a historical lesbian novel set during the American Civil War, the main is Anna Dickinson. who you follow on her on of tour of New England, where she advocates for the abolition of slavery and women’s rights, with her companion Julia. Julia herself is haunted by her own past and struggles daily with her feelings for Anna.

It's not the kind of book I would normally pick to read however I'm trying to broaden my reading spoke. I find the characters to be engaging and I found the characters personality seemed to change as I read though the book.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for a historical fiction to read over the holiday season.

“That Dickinson Girl” is a historical novel set during the American Civil War, imagining the life of lesbian, feminist orator Anna Dickinson. We follow her on a tour of New England, advocating for the abolition of slavery and women’s rights, with her companion Julia. Julia is haunted by her own past and must now confront her desires for her mistress. Will she succeed in protecting her love or will it bring her downfall?

I liked this book. I don’t have any major issues with it but it didn’t overwhelm me. I love historical fiction and I think this one is gorgeously written and you can tell that Koster did her research thoroughly.

Sadly, Julia didn’t get much of a personality besides obedience, loyalty and demureness. Maybe devotion to Anna. This was slightly disappointing as I often find romance unconvincing when one or both characters do not have fully developed personalities. Anna’s fiery personality –love it or hate it– was portrayed well. I liked how she stood up for herself, although later in the book she became incredibly selfish and I wondered what Julia still saw in her.

Besides the messy romantic plot, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I found the plot often jumping between scenes and points of view quite confusing. I liked the structure with several parts taking place in years which were clearly labelled, but at some points I wondered if my copy had missing chapters – which it did not.

As the author explains in the afterword, some characters are based on real acquaintances of Anna, some characters, like her companion Julia and the journalist Floyd are fictional but based on what journalists/Anna’s companion would have been like. I really enjoyed this element of truth the story had and I learned a lot about Anna Dickinson. I’m glad that I picked this up and learned about an American feminist of the 19th century who I had not heard of before.

I would recommend this to anyone looking for fiction about strong feminists of the 19th century or if you love historical fiction. I personally would not read this only for (sapphic) romance as I was not satisfied by the development of their romantic relationship and would not categorise its main genre as romance. Overall a good reading experience, I would recommend.

That Dickinson Girl by Joan Koster follows the life of Anna Dickinson, a fierce advocate for abolition and a woman who was known the country over and who now seems to be consigned to the cobwebs of history. She also was a lesbian, which adds another intriguing facet to her life. This is a fictional look at her, however, and entwines her dazzling rise in public with that of a poor woman named Julia, burdened with the sins of her father and struggling to keep her sister and herself off the street.

This book is a curious one. Most of the characters don't really come off that well at all. Julia is frustrating in the beginning, rampantly rude and rebuffing Anna's kindness at every turn, and then in the end of the book it is Anna who is awful, seeming to be more charmed by the high life than actually doing any physical, thoughtful work to achieve equality beyond speaking. Susan B Anthony makes an appearance, and she is after money and driven by desire for Anna (she and the real Anna really did have a romantic relationship). Most of the men are ruled by lust and are willing to do anything they can to satiate it.

There was a running plot line with a reporter that was unpleasant; I can see that he was meant to show how papers could make or break a career, and that men love to use and ruin women, but he turned up at every corner and the end of his plot point worked to strain at my credulity.

I liked the research that went into the book, and the author employs such nice descriptions that help to ground the reader. I also enjoyed at the end when a few characters mused over what exactly prompted Dickinson's drive and how she could presume to speak on conditions of marriage and that of the lives of black people when she was neither married nor black.

I received a copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Not really my cup of tea as I did not find the characters that engaging and many of the interactions just seemed too unrealistic for the time. Nicely written so may appeal to a different audience.