The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers

Hardback Edition

I discovered The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers purely by chance!! I'd never heard of this novel or its author until I decided to join a local book club that selected The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers as its book club pick for September 2017.

I am truly ecstatic at how fabulously wonderful and well written The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers is!! I'm actually quite blown away at out how much I loved this novel as I wasn't sure what to expect from a new to me author that I'd never heard about before. 

The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers is beautifully written. It a historical novel set for the most part in the deep South during the US Civil War during the years 1863 to 1865. The novel does leap forward to the year 1892 towards the end... But not to worry, the jump in time is in keeping with the plot development and storyline.

The Second Mrs. Hockaday is written as a series of letters and journal entries, which makes for fascinating reading. I also think that writing a novel in a series of letters and journal entries lends itself well to the time period portrayed in the novel. 

I also enjoyed the plot development, the pace of the novel, and the characters of The Second Mrs. Hockaday very much... Even if one of the characters was particularly unsavory. 

Best of all is the mystery and suspense that surrounds the life of the leading female character, Placidia Hockaday, during the years of 1863 to 1865, while her husband is off fighting in the war. What happens to Placidia during this time frame is one of the hooks that grabs the reader's attention right from the novel's start. 

I look forward to discussing The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers at the book club meet-up later this month.

The following is a plot summary for The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers from Amazon:

When Major Gryffth Hockaday is called to the front lines of the Civil War, his new bride is left to care for her husband’s three-hundred-acre farm and infant son. Placidia, a mere teenager herself living far from her family and completely unprepared to run a farm or raise a child, must endure the darkest days of the war on her own. By the time Major Hockaday returns two years later, Placidia is bound for jail, accused of having borne a child in his absence and murdering it. What really transpired in the two years he was away?

Inspired by a true incident, this saga conjures the era with uncanny immediacy. Amid the desperation of wartime, Placidia sees the social order of her Southern homeland unravel as her views on race and family are transformed. A love story, a story of racial divide, and a story of the South as it fell in the war, The Second Mrs. Hockaday reveals how that generation--and the next--began to see their world anew.

I am giving The Second Mrs. Hockaday by Susan Rivers a rating of 5 stars out of 5 stars!

As a side note, The Second Mrs. Hockaday is the first novel written by Susan Rivers. I look forward to seeing what she has to offer readers in the future.

Until my next post, happy reading!