The Second Mrs. Hockaday

A January Indie Next Pick
A January LibraryReads Selection
"Suspenseful and satisfying." ?People magazine
"This page-turner, set in the Civil War South, is meticulously researched and beautifully written." -Woman's Day

"...mesmerizing.... [Rivers'] masterful prose captures the nuances of Southern mid-19th century diction. Each patiently unspooled revelation feels organic, urgent and essential to its form. Placidia's voice is penetrating and her observations about the singular truths of war are vivid and illuminating." -Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"...spellbinding..." -Charlotte Observer

"...brilliant... As the novel develops, Rivers intensifies the mystery and suspense even as she portrays the reality of how the innocent bride became the determined woman struggling to survive as her world is all but destroyed. Rivers accomplishes all of this by expertly crafting an unusual epistolary novel. Rivers' deft development of the mystery keeps you reading; her portrayal of life in the South Carolina hills when the men were away at war makes the story even more powerful." -Greensboro News & Record

"The psychological and physical tolls of war, especially on women, come alive in Rivers' novel in the piteous yet gritty woman who is the second Mrs. Hockaday." -Roanoke Times

"With language evocative of the South ('craggy as a shagbark stump') and taut, almost unbearable suspense, dramatized by characters readers will swear they know, this galvanizing historical portrait of courage, determination, and abiding love mesmerizes and shocks. Similar in tone and descriptive flow to Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain (1997) and with the compelling narratives found in Robert Hicks' The Widow of the South (2005)." -Booklist, starred review

"If this book is any indicator, Rivers is a promising talent and an adroit storyteller. Hopefully, this won't be her only foray into fiction. A compulsively readable work that takes on the legacy of slavery in the United States, the struggles specific to women, and the possibilities for empathy and forgiveness." -Kirkus Reviews