This is a simple novel about a young Australian man who, with ruling-class idealism about the world of gentlemen and ladies, goes to fight in the American civil war on the side of the South. He comes to a rather rude awakening and deserts the Southern cause to flee North with a young slave girl who has skin white enough to 'pass'. There is little to challenge or upset the reader in this work. While the content covering the war and slavery has the potential for gruesome episodes, this book (French's first adult novel) is a rather clean depiction of both. There is much more in this novel to lull a reader - well-crafted sentences with some terrific imagery, lots of domestic description of cakes and food. Any political awakening comes in a domestic form and I rather liked that focus. My real quarrel with the novel is the persistent parenthetical asides to the reader. There is a strong feeling that the reader was not to be trusted to make links or indeed draw conclusions without the help of the author. This may be a legacy of French's work in children's fiction, where acting as a guide to the reader is completely appropriate. As an adult reader, I would prefer to see less of that.

Annelise Balsamo is the assistant editor of Labour and Industry. C. 2003 Thorpe-Bowker and contributors

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