While it is a historically accurate portrayal of the times of the Civil War, Sissy! is not your typical novel of that period. It focuses more on the hearts and minds and fears and hopes of people caught up in the war—the newly-freed slave, the woman who is desperate enough to disguise herself as a male Union soldier, a rebel with enough hatred he is willing to destroy an entire town, a soldier in love with a woman who is not certain about her own feelings toward him, soldiers caught up in one of the bloodiest battles of the war, and an "angel" whom a young black slave girl depends on to pull her through hardship. The Quantrill raid that killed 200 unarmed and innocent men and boys in 1863 Lawrence, Kansas is vividly told from both the perspective of the terrorists as well as the victims. Also accurately detailed through the eyes of officers and soldiers is the battle at Stones River, Tennessee. Woven throughout this book is the pain and suffering endured by the slaves and the women caught up in this brutality. Fortunately, a young black girl's belief in Sissy, her guardian angel, sheds a light of spirituality into this dark moment of American history.