The Jackal's Mistress

A Novel

By: Chris Bohjalian

Narrated by: Marni Penning, Chris Bohjalian

INSTANT NATIONAL BESTSELLER • #1 BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER • USA TODAY BESTSELLER • In this Civil War love story, inspired by a real-life friendship across enemy lines, the wife of a missing Confederate soldier discovers a wounded Yankee officer and must decide what she’s willing to risk for the life of a stranger, from the New York Times bestselling author of such acclaimed historical fiction as Hour of the Witch and The Sandcastle Girls.

Virginia, 1864—Libby Steadman’s husband has been away for so long that she can barely conjure his voice in her dreams. While she longs for him in the night, fearing him dead in a Union prison camp, her days are spent running a gristmill with her teenage niece, a hired hand, and his wife, all the grain they can produce requisitioned by the Confederate Army. It’s an uneasy life in the Shenandoah Valley, the territory frequently changing hands, control swinging back and forth like a pendulum between North and South, and Libby awakens every morning expecting to see her land a battlefield.

And then she finds a gravely injured Union officer left for dead in a neighbor’s house, the bones of his hand and leg shattered. Captain Jonathan Weybridge of the Vermont Brigade is her enemy—but he’s also a human being, and Libby must make a terrible decision: Does she leave him to die alone? Or does she risk treason and try to nurse him back to health? And if she succeeds, does she try to secretly bring him across Union lines, where she might negotiate a trade for news of her own husband?

A vivid and sweeping story of two people navigating the boundaries of love and humanity in a landscape of brutal violence, The Jackal’s Mistress is a heart-stopping new novel, based on a largely unknown piece of American history, from one of our greatest storytellers.

Great historical fiction

Love that this book was based on a true story. Strong female protagonists carry the story forward with propulsive movement.

Such a good book!!

Chris Bohjalian is one of my favorite authors and this book will give you a reason why.
So very good. I loved every character in this book!
Highly recommend. Don't start listening unless you are able to listen from start to finish in one sitting!
The narration was the best!

Real history

Loved the writer’s account of the true story basis. There were some weird edits where the reader’s voice fluctuates strangely. I enjoyed the story. Would recommend. After hearing the true basis I like that ending a bit better.

Historic

Very interesting historical content humanized. Rich characters. Excellent theatrical reading by various people. Well done!

Authentic, entertaining and engrossing

A Virginia-Vermont story that captured my heart and imagination. Based on true events, “The Jackal’s Mistress” is fictional, but based on an actual Virginian woman who saved the life of a Vermont Brigade officer. As a Virginian who fell for a Vermonter myself, I highly recommend this book. The narrator changed her voice for different characters naturally, much like any of us read aloud. I found myself putting off other tasks in favor of those that lend themselves to raptly listening to this story. The only reason I didn’t give it five stars: I wish the story lasted longer.