Product Description

This is a fiction based upon the real life of Belle Boyd , who became famous as “The Rebel Spy” and “The Cleopatra of the Secession”. This is the first novel in a series about the Confederate Secret Service and the women who worked for it. The time is July 1861. Belle, a 17 year old debutante, is alarmed and distressed when her home town , Martinsburg, Virginia, is invaded by volunteer Union Army troops. The man she'd hoped to marry has been killed in battle. When drunken Union soldiers invade her home, dire consequences ensue.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2121964 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-30
• Released on: 2006-01-30
• Binding: Digital
• 36 pages

About the Author
Francis Hamit is an internationally recognized journalist, author and playwright who once served in Military Intelligence. His past work includes articles on Intelligence and Espionage for the Encyclopaedia Britannica and other publications. He is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and the National Military Intelligence Association. He was a member of the U.S. Army Security Agency during the Vietnam War and is a Vietnam veteran. He is also a graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop.

Customer Reviews

A Great Download - A Serialized Novel of the Civil War
Author Francis Hamit tries new age technology to bring readers a lost art--or perhaps, just an old art rediscovered; serialized novels. His downloaded novel comes in many parts; the story continues on past where I have already read to and it seems to have a life that will go on for many more parts. The novel is titled "The Shenandoah Spy". It can be downloaded for only 49 cents a part on Amazon.

The basic story is based on the life of a real southern spy named Belle Boyd. She became famous for her work with the Confederate Secret Service. She was only 17 years old and a beautiful young woman when in 1861 her whole life would change when her home was invaded by the Union Army. Drunken and unruly soldiers with no disciple pick the wrong house and the wrong women to tangle with. She defends her home and protects her mother.

The real facts and the fictional imagination of the author are interwoven throughout the story. The author takes us along as the family moves to Front Royal. Trying to serve the Confederacy in some meaningful way; Belle volunteers to become a nurse. She becomes ill and ends up quitting and takes up being a courier. Eventually she hooks up with the Confederate Secret Service along with another woman Antonia Ford.

She trains and then is given a mission where she disguises herself as a missionary. She thus officially begins her new career as a spy. The story gets more involved from this point forward but certainly entertaining.

The writing is truly gifted and the author is inventive with how he uses real and fictional dialogs and narrative of people and events. I honestly do not know Civil War history well enough to know one from the other. But I would bet that the author has researched much deeper into this period then one might realize. He captures this place and time in our history. To me it was a very satisfying reading. I think I even learned something about that war new.

The author does something else rather rare in that he truly captures the female energy of the lead character Belle. He has fleshed her character out so that she has power, intelligence, sex appeal and cunningness. He also gives us a good supporting cast of characters.

For those who like the Civil War or just good adventure stories then this is a book worth downloading. It has a little of everything to offer the reader. For this type of genre and this kind of media download--I give it a Five Star Rating for serialized e-book downloads; could be a great way to spend your time at the airport with your lap top.

Hamit against readers rights
Hamit does "not authorized text-to-speech distribution, nor will I any time soon" of this book. He believes reading the book aloud is a violation of his copyright. Please boycott authors that do not respect your rights to read.

At the very least, this Short got me thinking about...
...Southerners who didn't necessarily support the Successionists.

In all the discussion about the Civil War, the state of affairs on border regionsscarcely garners a mention. I got to questioning (myself [for now], of course), were those who had lived in border states -- separating Union from the Confederacy -- either *more* or *less* staunch in their abolitionist or non-abolitionist views?

I don't know how to answer that other than to say that reading author Hamit's story certainly got me thinking about the alternatives...to be explored further, thanks to this scribe.

I have totally fallen for the character of Belle. I can totally identify with how stymied she felt in her orderly Southern society -- thanks to the convincing nature of the writer's lines. Hamit's description of her storied beauty got me swooning a tad myself -- that's always a good thing!

I imagine some of the characters alluded to in this introductory three-chaptered tale will be discussed in future parts of "The Shenandoah Spy?" (I've noticed parts 2, 3, & 4 are available as well, goodie!) I'd like to know more about them.

For instance, I was steeled by the courage of Eliza -- liked her "sass" in that final line of hers towards the end of Part 1(e.g. "A Rebel lady!") -- and would like to see more of her in the coming chapters. Remains to be seen -- but I love the possibilities.

My, oh my...the breadth of his tale! What I'm getting at, is it's a well-researched and captivating piece of work. I'm going to hold off my further review until I've had a chance to read parts 2 through 4, which I've bought in between my typing out this review, if the truth MUST be told.

Very nice going, Francis. This Short rocked and worked its necessary magic. You pulled me in and didn't let go.

Regards from Prague.