"A good book just got better"

The Civil War is over and the country tries to heal its' wounds. However, eighteen year old Katherine "Kit" Weston of Risen Glory Plantation was ruined in the war. The woman from Rutherford, South Carolina has a personal battle to fight. She comes to New York, mistaken for a young boy due to her ragged clothing, to kill Northern war hero Major Baron Cain, current owner of what is left of her family plantation.

Kit obtains a job working as a stable boy for Baron, but soon learns he is also her guardian. However, Baron soon uncovers the truth that his outspoken street urchin is actually a lovely-determined young lady, who wants him dead even as he falls in love with her.

JUST IMAGINE reengineering a highly regarded novel that started your career's rise to the top. Susan Elizabeth Phillips risks doing just that to her fabulous 1984 Reconstruction Era romance RISEN GLORY and succeeds in improving the already strong novel. Ms. Phillips keeps the core essence of the original story line, and the hearts and souls of Kit and Baron intact, but tightens loose passages so that readers have quite a treat that will be labeled a classic seventeen years from now.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted August 24, 2001

Summary

The War Between the States may be over for the rest of the country, but not for Kit Weston. Disguised as a boy, she's come to New York City to kill Baron Cain, the man who stands between her and Risen Glory, the South Carolina home she loves. But unknown to Kit, the Yankee war hero is more than her most bitter enemy-he's also her guardian. And he'll be a lot harder to kill than she's figured on...

Believing that Kit's a boy, Cain offers the grubby rapscallion a job in his stable. But he has no idea what he's in for, and it'snot long before the hero of Missionary Ridge discovers the truth. His scamp of a stable boy is a strong-willed, violet-eyed beauty who's hell-bent on driving him crazy.

Two hard-headed, passionate people .... Two stubborn opponents with tender souls.... Sometimes wars of the heart can only be won through the sweetest of surrenders.