Want to know more about real people during the Civil War era. This book tells the story from the POV of three women: A slave, the slave’s owner and an abolitionist from New York. The abolitionist was a real woman, Georgina Woolsey. She along with her six sisters and mother were all abolitionists. The author did extensive and meticulous research. If you read it you will learn more about the life of slaves and many happenings of the Civil War.

I love stories about women who are progressive before their time and history forgot. This is the case for Ms. Kelly and the latest in her “Sisters” series. Both Georgey and Jenna are seeking a way out of their lives and take it upon themselves to do better.

Sunflower Sisters
By: Martha Hall Kelly
5🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻
Another amazing novel about an incredible real-family in different time periods. The other books are Lilac Girls and Lost Roses. Both are excellent as well. Set time aside to read this Historical Fiction novel.
This novel is more of a prequel to the others, which follows Caroline Ferriday’s ancestor Georgeanna Wolsey, a Union nurse.
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Jemma is enslaved on the Peeler plantation in Maryland where she lives with her parents and comes from a close family. Her sister works at another plantation close by.
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The plantations mistress Anne-May is left to run the plantation as her husband joins the Union army and her brother joins the Confederate army. Anne- May is a bitter lady and treats Jemma horribly. Anne-May is ambitious and helps sabotage Northern soldiers and finds herself in a bind.🌻
Georgeanna Woolsey comes from a privileged life but longs for more. She becomes nurse during wartime and proves she has grit and determination to contribute in a “mans world”.
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I will miss this family and I feel like Hall did an excellent job and you can understand the struggles of the women and what each endured.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a chance to read and review this book. Despite this book being listed as number three in the Lilac Girls series, the books do not have to be read in order and you do not need to read the other books to get the full enjoyment of each book. Sunflower Sisters takes place during the Civil War and covers the lives of the real life Woolsey women, from the viewpoint of Georgeanne Woolsey, as they try to bring relief to all who suffer, no matter their color and no matter their army affiliation. We also follow sixteen year old Jemma, who is enslaved with her family, on the Peeler Plantation in Maryland.

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for giving me the opportunity to review this book. This will be in my top five books of the year! I loved this story from the first paragraph.

I’m eager to read more Civil War books, but this one seemed to blend in with the others for me. This is a 500 page novel in which I certainly felt it’s length. It didn’t tell me anything new or take any creative paths to tell a new story. Enjoyable enough, but not what I was hoping for. I think if you’re new to Civil War history, this one would be really enjoyable and a great reading experience.

Thanks to Netgalley for the gifted copy of this one.

I started this and got 39% in and stopped reading. I really wasn’t feeling the story or wanting to read more. This is great for people who want to read this type of story.

Inspired by true events, this book is about Georgeanna "Georgey" Woolsey, daughter of an upper class wealthy New York family, and Jemma, a young slave girl on a tobacco plantation in Maryland.
When civil war breaks out, Georgeanna is determined to fight for the cause, and the only way for a woman is a frontline nurse. After training, she is sent to Washington, then onto the hospital ships, and finally to Gettysburg. At each step in her journey, she has to fight for better care for the soldiers against doctors and male nurses who think women belong at home.
After Jemma is sold to a new owner, she is conscripted by the Union army as their new drummer. Her first battle...Gettysburg. After she's wounded, she's sent to the hospital where she meets and is taken under Georgey's care. But Jemma will do anything to return and free her mother and sister from the cruel owners she escaped from, even rising her own newfound freedom.
I really loved reading about each woman's experiences in this book. From Georgey and Eliza facing the bias of the mostly male dominated nursing profession and her determination to start a school for women nurses. The heartbreaking losses of the slaves on the plantation, either from death or being sold away. The unbelievable cruelty of the overseer, especially to the female slaves. I'm glad they each found the strength in the end to fight for what they wanted. And that AnneMay finally got what she deserved!
I received an advance reader copy of this book through NetGalley. The views and opinions expressed in this review are completely my own and given voluntarily.

I am so torn over this one. It is the 3rd in the Lilac Girls series, but each book reads like a stand alone. The three books relate to each other, because we follow three women from the same family but different generations. Each did their part to serve their country during wartime. In the Sunflower Sisters, we are told about the Woolsey's through Georgeanna. Georgeanna served as one of the first female nurses during the Civil War. She also later formed a nursing school for women. She is just one of the POV's as we also get the view of a plantation owner Anne-May, and a woman slave named Jemma.

I think that Anne-May's character was over the top and don't think her storyline was needed - at all. It made the book longer than it felt like it needed to be. Much of Anne-May's story could have been included in Jemma's POV without losing anything. I also think Hall had a hard time writing as Jemma, which makes sense, but Jemma's story didn't always read realistically.

That being said I did like the book. It also does what good historical fiction does - it got me curious about the history of nursing. Not my favorite book, but definitely a worthwhile read.

This book was written in the popular style of multiple viewpoints on the same story. I really enjoyed the inclusion of the viewpoints of the less-than-sympathetic characters (slave owners). It made for great tension and emotion. I really enjoy Ms Kelly's writing, and I am looking forward to more works from her.

Sunflower Sisters is the third book in the Lilac Girls trilogy. All of these books centre around women from the Ferriday/Woolsey family. This third book is set in the US during the Civil War. It is told from three POVs. Georgeanna, Georgey, Woolsey is one of seven sisters. Her family are union supporters and abolitionists. Her father died when she was young and her mother has raised her daughters to be strong, independent women. Ann-May Wilson-Watson is a southern plantation mistress whose husband enlists. She owns the Peeler Plantation in Maryland (considered a border state) and a nasty slave owner. She is also pro-confederate. The final POV is that of Jemma, a young enslaved girl who is sold off and eventually conscripted into the army. This story shares their stories during the civil war as well as their intertwined stories as they meet and influence each other's paths.

Sunflower Sisters is inspired by the real Woolsey sisters, the letters they wrote and other memorabilia kept in a collection. I have not read a lot of books set during the Civil War, so I found that I learned a lot reading this book. Female nurses were not accepted by most people at this time and I enjoyed seeing how the Woolsey's didn't give up trying to help the wounded, no matter what side they were on. Reading about the anti-union sentiment in Maryland surprised me, as well as the draft riots. Parts of this book were a bit gruesome, but it was realistic. The writing was wonderful, and all of the POVs blended well together. While reading the story you’re given a comprehensive look at life in American during the time of the Civil War, from the streets of New York to tobacco fields of the South. It’s a story filled with strong female characters to admire, it has elements of suspense, tension, drama, sadness and a little romance. The title eludes to the fact that Sunflowers were used by the underground railway as a symbol of danger and sisters Jemma and Patience were both drawn to them. I definitely recommend this story to lovers of historical fiction.

I was thrilled to have my wish granted for this book! I loved Lilac Girls, and couldn't wait to dive into this one. I absolutely loved the timeline of The Civil War. This was a novel filled with adversity and courage. Jemma was my favorite character. This book was so well researched and I give it 5 stars! If you are a historical fiction lover like me, don't miss this book or this series!

I really enjoyed this story! This reminded me of the author's first book in this series, Lilac Girls, which tells a fictional story based on true events. though the book itself was long, I enjoyed all the factual information it provided around the time period (Civil War era). The story was also very compelling! Highly recommend!

I was so excited to read the last book in the Caroline Ferriday series. I have read all the others in the series and really enjoyed them. Martha Hall Kelly really does her research on the time periods and character she writes about. I would highly recommend this book and will continue reading other titles by this author.

In this third installment of the series, set during the Civil War, Georgeanna Woolsey is a Union battlefield nurse along with her sister Eliza. Georgie sets about to help a young slave girl, Gemma, she comes across who has escaped from Peeler Plantation and owner Ann-May Wilson. Gemma’s sister and parents are still held by Ann-May at the crumbling plantation. Georgie has ideas about standardizing nursing care across the army, but her ideas aren’t welcomed by the men in charge.

Sunflower Sisters is as great a read as the two previous, Lilac Girls and The Lost Roses, with strong, capable, empowered female leads charging forward to change lives for the better, while still dealing with the personal tragedies of war. Uplifting and inspirational, these stories will last in my memory. I highly recommend all three novels.

Beautifully written. Heartwarming, heartbreaking, full of love and sadness. Such a tragic yet beautiful story.

As the prequel to Kelly's previous books on the Ferriday family, this was an interesting read in its own right. I enjoyed this book but found it the weakest of the three. However, the story captured the horror of slavery and was especially gripping when it juxtaposed that aspect of the Civil War era with the Woolsey family opposition to slavery.
There has recently been a proliferation of books with similar plots lately and this can be added to that list.
It is obvious that the author did extensive research into the time period. Her intense descriptions of the times contributed to the authenticity of the story. Well done!

Martha Hall Kelly rounds out her trio of books inspired by the family of Caroline Ferriday with the Civil War era Sunflower Sisters. The three protagonists are the very real Georgy Woolsey, Ferriday’s great aunt, the fictional Anne-Marie Watson, and the fictional Jemma. As in Lilac Girls (I have to confess, I haven’t read Lost Roses yet), Kelly starts with three distinct storylines and gradually weaves them together. Georgy Woolsey is a nurse for the U.S. Army, and she and her family are universally opposed to slavery. Jemma, our other heroine, is a slave at Peeler Plantation, owned by Anne-Marie Watson, a self-centered and entitled woman who ardently believes in the glory of the South, the Confederacy, and the slave-based system that supports her.

Sunflower Sisters was best for me in smaller doses - Martha Hall Kelly has created an utterly loathsome character in Anne-Marie, and the chapters where she narrates or is present consistently annoyed me. She’s, at best, unaware of the amount of cruelty she’s perpetuating, and at the worst, apathetic to it. There’s nothing redeeming about the character, and having her narrate soured me on the rest of the story. Fortunately, Georgy and Jemma have more depth, including both strengths and flaws. Georgy’s storyline is brought to life in part by excerpts from letters actually exchanged by the Woolsey women during the Civil War.

Recommended for readers who like works of historical fiction that use multiple narrators, and don’t resent a narrator who experiences no remorse for their evil.

I received a copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley for an honest review.

I was excited to read this book, the third book in the Lilac Girls series about the Ferriday/Woolsey family set during the Civil War. I’ve read the other books and really enjoyed them. The characters, a slave, a plantation owner, and a nurse/abolitionist, are all based on real people. The book is very well researched, and I liked the use of letters and newspaper articles that explained the state of the country during that time. Parts were difficult to read, not surprising given the number of deaths, the brutality of the battles and the mistreatment of slaves.
There have been a lot of books written about this time period but this is a mixture of historical fact and fiction. I highly recommend this book, 4 stars.

Thank you Netgalley, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, and Martha Hall Kelly for free e-ARC in return of my honest review.

I loved Lilac Girls, I liked Lost Roses and I was totally disappointed in Sunflower Sisters. It felt like Martha Hall Kelly found her template and she built all her stories with the same structure. There are three main characters, they all have a have to narrate their own story. There is always one who is vulnerable and in danger. The second is always a villain who might change by the end of the story, but most likely remain with their inhumane ideas. The third is always a helper, who might have some misleading ideas at first but always comes to right conclusions by the end.

I have to say that the presentation of the timeframe where the storyline is developed is good, well-researched and set a scene right, however, the characters who travel from one story to another with different names but practically developed as in previous stories ruin all the experience.