Readers will enjoy learning about fifteen-year-old Lydia Aber, who, in 1861, disguises herself as a boy to save her reckless younger brother from the Confederate army. Her quest for family becomes a crucible of survival, forcing her to navigate bloody battlefields, forbidden love with a doomed soldier, and the grim reality of a Union prison camp, forging a woman of unbreakable will from the ashes of a nation at war. Her dedication to preserving the memory of the soldiers who died results in her haunting presence.