An Unusual Read

Long a fan of epistolary novels, most notably:
A Woman of Independent Means by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey
Daddy Long Legs by Jean Webster,
Griffin and Sabine by Nick Bantok
The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society by Annie Barrows
Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn
I was delighted to discover Homeland.

It's a series of letters written during the Civil War between a woman living on a small island in Maine, whose husband, a Tennessean, feels compelled to join the Confederate Army to preserve his homeland, and a friend in Tennessee who is a strong anti-secessionist. There are many twists in the plot, but overall a strong testament to friendship AND the power of books to provide escape from the horrors of war (and depression I might add). "This is what they do for us, both books and friends: they remind us what it is to be human. As you wrote to me, they are the window into sunlight, even if we ourselves are shut in the dark."