The Courier’s Wife

I was fortunate enough to receive a complimentary advance copy of The Courier’s Wife from Vanessa Lind.

Set in the U.S., primarily in what is present day Washington D.C., during the Civil War, The Courier’s Wife follows the story of Hattie Logan as she strives to put her parent’s Confederate-supporting legacy behind her and begins work to aid the Union cause. She takes a position with Pinkerton’s, an agency that relies on spies, codebreakers, and the interception of letters to assist in uncovering information to aid the Union cause in thwarting the Rebels. Quickly Hattie realizes she has a knack for solving puzzles and decoding letters, which is not a function of her job as a mailroom girl – responsible for reading and sorting through intercepted letters from the Rebels. Hattie is successful in leaving her clouded history behind, until she intercepts and decodes a letter that could make all of her efforts crumble around her.

Typically, I don’t read many novels that are set during this time period. However, I always love a good historic fiction story, and this one didn’t fail to entertain and keep me on the edge of my seat! Hattie is a very relatable character, as she is frustrated by society’s perception of her having a slew of shortcomings just because she’s a female. She’s headstrong, intelligent, confident, but also has flaws, which makes her feel real. I found the majority of the characters were well-written, and either likeable or unlikeable, much like in real life.

The story kept me on edge – when I was expecting the story to go one way, it went a different, yet plausible, direction altogether. Lind’s use of language helped the story to come alive, as she managed to find the perfect word to describe various situations, but it never once felt like someone was frantically writing with the aid of a thesaurus just to change up the cadence.

This book had a lot of themes that appeal greatly to me – mystery, adventure, codebreaking/puzzles, and dangerous situations. There’s a love story that is introduced and explored during the novel as well. Admittedly, this love story felt very flat and forced at first. Yet, as the story progressed, the couple grew on me and I started to feel the same anxiety as Hattie surrounding their predicament (Hattie is one half of the relationship). I’m also curious if the major historic figures (i.e. John Wilkes Booth, Abe Lincoln, etc.) will come into play in the subsequent novels, since there seems to be great potential there.

My only complaint is that the copy I received had words missing, typos, and an extra word here and there. It wasn’t detracting from the story, since it’s fairly obvious what word was missing or what letter had accidentally been deleted, but at times it was distracting to the story.

I’m excited that this is the first book in the series and I can’t wait to find out more about Hattie’s journey!

If this book sounds intriguing to you, it’s listed as being available for purchase on April 28, 2022.

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