An Extraordinary Union - Textual Relations May 2021 Reading

[Falselogic]

"Elle Burns is a former slave with a passion for justice and an eidetic memory. Trading in her life of freedom in Massachusetts, she returns to the indignity of slavery in the South--to spy for the Union Army. Malcolm McCall is a detective for Pinkerton's Secret Service. Subterfuge is his calling, but he's facing his deadliest mission yet--risking his life to infiltrate a Rebel enclave in Virginia. Two undercover agents who share a common cause, and an undeniable attraction, Malcolm and Elle join forces when they discover a plot that could turn the tide of the war in the Confederacy's favor. Caught in a tightening web of wartime intrigue, and fighting a fiery and forbidden love, Malcolm and Elle must make their boldest move to preserve the Union at any cost. Even if it means losing each other"

“Cole does the seemingly impossible, using the Civil War as a backdrop for a realistic, gripping interracial romance that interrogates slavery, systemic racism, and more, while still remaining utterly swoon-worthy.” —Entertainment Weekly

Alyssa Cole is an American author of historical, science fiction, and contemporary romance novels. Her stories include diverse casts of characters with a variety of professions, from Civil War spies to modern day epidemiologists. Her romance works explore both straight and gay relationships. An Extraordinary Union is the first book in her Loyal League Trilogy.

I've never read a romance novel, outside of some of the earliest forms of the genre. So, this will all be new to me I am intrigued by the reviews of this book though that all laud it for being a romance novel that deals with serious issues in serious ways.

Let's keep spoilers out of it until the 20th!

 

[Violentvixen]

Yeah, I fully admit that when I put this on hold at the library I saw it was tagged "romance" and debated skipping this month. But it's good to try new things and as noted it sounds like there's a lot going on so I'm intrigued.

 

[Egarwaen]

I really hope folks give this one a try and that it works out for them. I’m not a huge romance reader outside of the substantial SF/F overlap, but I have a lot of respect for the genre. I don’t remember where I ran into a recommendation for this series, but I really enjoyed it. I’m pretty sure there’s a bunch of genre commentary going on that I’m only peripherally aware of (eg, the “plantation” sub genre of historicals) but even with that mostly going over my head, the core romance and intrigue plots were enjoyable.

 

[Falselogic]

I'm excited to start it as soon as I finish the book I'm in the middle of!

 

[Egarwaen]

I'd forgotten just how forward the romance plot was in the first few chapters. I promise there is eventually an intrigue element, it's not just the heroine and hero lusting at each other for the entire novel!

 

[Violentvixen]

My library only has one copy of this and it's checked out, boo! But I just checked and I apparently can get a two-month free trial of Kindle Unlimited and this is on there so that's convenient. Wanted to give anyone else who uses Kindle Unlimited a heads up as I know the selection on there can be a unpredictable.

 

[Egarwaen]

Discussion questions from the back of the book:

Spoiler

1. The lives of African-Americans during the Civil War are often presented as a single story: slaves who either escaped or were liberated by Union troops. Did the historically accurate portrayals in this book make you rethink some of the history you learned in school?

2. Elle is part of a society of African-Americans who aided the Union throughout the Civil War. Do you know of any African-American spies for the Union outside of Harriet Tubman?

3. Historically, the idea of the Southern belle has been seen as something to strive for. How does this An Extraordinary Union’s depiction of this archetype, based on several stories from the historical record, conflict with other pop culture representations?

4. Elle is reluctant to give in to her feelings for Malcolm because of the structure of society. Although consensual interracial relationships did exist at the time, discuss some things Elle would have had to take into consideration.

5. Malcolm’s relationship with his father colors much of his feelings about love. How does he overcome his hesitancy?

 

[Falselogic]

Started this morning. Am about half way done. It's a good spy thriller with the focus of course being on the characters and their feelings. But, I'm not having a bad time.

 

[Violentvixen]

I really liked the opening chapter and was excited for the rest of the book. But now I'm about halfway through and really struggling, as essentially nothing has happened since then other than feelings. I don't like the writing style, everything takes too long to communicate/happen and the characters seem incredibly flat to me. I think I expected a lot more historical detail and definitely expected more depth on race discussions. It's not a complicated read so I'll probably just read the first sentence of the rest of the paragraphs in the book to get the general gist. Maybe it'll pick back up again?

 

[Rascally Badger]

I read this this week. I've read a few romance novels (I had an idea to write a fantasy series where each book was also another genre, i.e. romance, mystery, political thriller, western; and I read some romances so I could understand the genre) and this largely conforms the genre as I am familiar with it. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, it just is. It does a solid job balancing the romance with a more accurate than usual, at least in fiction I've encountered, portrayal of the antebellum south. It is still primarily a romance, so though there is spy stuff going on it is all filtered through how it effects the protagonists relationships. It is honestly refreshing that it makes no bones about slave-owners being the bad guys. A few years ago I read a book by Robert Jordan, that was an adventure/romance also set in the South, though in this case closer to the American Revolution. The protagonist was an Irish-born former indentured servant who refuses to own slaves. When he leaves his home to fight in the Revolutionary War, his very southern American wife has purchases slaves to run his farm and in a complete breaking point for me with the book and the characters, it is treated like a character flaw that the protagonist has to deal with in his spouse. This book doesn't pull that. It actually takes the time to examine the power dynamics inherent in the racial tensions between the protagonists.

 

[Egarwaen]

I'm not deeply read on romance as a genre, but I've gleaned that the "plantation romance" was once a very popular sub-genre, and still has a vocal fanbase, so my understanding is that the book is something of a deconstruction of those. I'm pretty sure that Susie, for example, is modeled on a typical "plantation romance" protagonist, but is - as Badger pointed out - unambiguously a villain. Similarly, I think Malcolm and Rufus are love interest types, which in turn gets undermined by making Malcolm a Union loyalist and Rufus a Confederate spy-catcher - who, of course, only ever spots the white man, and completely misses the Black woman.

@Rascally Badger your comment about the other period adventure/romance you read caught my eye, because I'm pretty sure Malcolm's background is very carefully chosen, and I don't think Jordan's protagonist's background is an accident either, but they're diametrically opposite. The treatment of Irish and Scottish indentured servants and exiles is a common topic of pro-Confederate historical revisionism; depending on how aggressive the apologist, it can even range as far as claiming that the Irish and Scots were treated worse, which is laughable. Malcolm and Elle both come from families that were forced into exile by colonial violence, but the McCalls' problems are personal. They're still whites, granted privileges and safety by even Union law that Elle's Black family and friends are denied. Malcolm's background helps him sympathize with the people he's helping, but he opposes slavery because doing so is right, not because he or his family had a comparable experience.

 

[Falselogic]

1. The lives of African-Americans during the Civil War are often presented as a single story: slaves who either escaped or were liberated by Union troops. Did the historically accurate portrayals in this book make you rethink some of the history you learned in school?

I appreciate that the book recognizes and portrays African-Americans as fully realized humans who have their own wills. But it wasn't this book that made me "rethink" some of the history I learned in school. I don't think California history standards are amazing but I don't recall them only portraying African Americans as passive participants in history.

2. Elle is part of a society of African-Americans who aided the Union throughout the Civil War. Do you know of any African-American spies for the Union outside of Harriet Tubman?

If you don't know Mary Elizabeth Bowser's story I encourage you to look it up!

3. Historically, the idea of the Southern belle has been seen as something to strive for. How does this An Extraordinary Union’s depiction of this archetype, based on several stories from the historical record, conflict with other pop culture representations?

The Susie character is usually the protagonist in these sort of stories and they're usually held up as the crowning achievement of "Southern Culture." If they have any negative attributes it's usually just an attribute in disguise like stubborness or some such thing. Susie in the book is the villain.

4. Elle is reluctant to give in to her feelings for Malcolm because of the structure of society. Although consensual interracial relationships did exist at the time, discuss some things Elle would have had to take into consideration.

Anti-miscegenation laws are older than the USA itself. And weren't found unconstitutional until a 1967 Supreme Court case. Nothing about such a relationship would be easy.

5. Malcolm’s relationship with his father colors much of his feelings about love. How does he overcome his hesitancy?

Through his loins I think? Like I didn't pay much attention to Malcolm because he seemed to be a throbbing penis that could also talk and spy on people.

 

[Egarwaen]

1. The lives of African-Americans during the Civil War are often presented as a single story: slaves who either escaped or were liberated by Union troops. Did the historically accurate portrayals in this book make you rethink some of the history you learned in school?

I appreciate that the book recognizes and portrays African-Americans as fully realized humans who have their own wills. But it wasn't this book that made me "rethink" some of the history I learned in school. I don't think California history standards are amazing but I don't recall them only portraying African Americans as passive participants in history.

I think that's one place California was really ahead of the curve. I know the American history we covered in Canada in the late 90s largely portrayed the emancipation struggle as being a conflict of freed men. The participation of enslaved people, particularly enslaved women, was ...Acknowledged but not really dwelled on. Of course I'd run into the concept in fiction and histories since then, but that was largely a happy accident. I thought Cole generally did a good job of forwarding the inner lives of the enslaved people in her story, especially since - as you note - Malcolm is a bit light on that front.

2. Elle is part of a society of African-Americans who aided the Union throughout the Civil War. Do you know of any African-American spies for the Union outside of Harriet Tubman?

If you don't know Mary Elizabeth Bowser's story I encourage you to look it up!

I actually hadn't, and that's fascinating. Especially since I'm pretty sure Cole uses that Davis' incident as a basis for a scene in the third book of the series.

4. Elle is reluctant to give in to her feelings for Malcolm because of the structure of society. Although consensual interracial relationships did exist at the time, discuss some things Elle would have had to take into consideration.

Anti-miscegenation laws are older than the USA itself. And weren't found unconstitutional until a 1967 Supreme Court case. Nothing about such a relationship would be easy.

I feel like there's a bit of a relationship to The Other Madisons here; there, family life and prosperity was often cemented through marriage, particularly during the segment in Texas after the civil war. Wives often outlived their husbands by an enormous margin, and marriage meant that widows had a right to land that they could use to support themselves. The social aspects of such a relationship would be awkward enough to navigate; the legal ones could be ruinous.

 

[Violentvixen]

1. The lives of African-Americans during the Civil War are often presented as a single story: slaves who either escaped or were liberated by Union troops. Did the historically accurate portrayals in this book make you rethink some of the history you learned in school?

I appreciate that the book recognizes and portrays African-Americans as fully realized humans who have their own wills. But it wasn't this book that made me "rethink" some of the history I learned in school. I don't think California history standards are amazing but I don't recall them only portraying African Americans as passive participants in history.

I think this was what just made the book overall not work for me. It really seemed to assume readers didn't know a damn thing about history. And yes, there are absolutely museums/textbooks that portray history extremely poorly so I know that some readers might learn something new and that's good, but I'm not one of them.

4. Elle is reluctant to give in to her feelings for Malcolm because of the structure of society. Although consensual interracial relationships did exist at the time, discuss some things Elle would have had to take into consideration.

Anti-miscegenation laws are older than the USA itself. And weren't found unconstitutional until a 1967 Supreme Court case. Nothing about such a relationship would be easy.

I was wondering about this but didn't bother to look it up. The ending was a little too neat for me.

5. Malcolm’s relationship with his father colors much of his feelings about love. How does he overcome his hesitancy?

Through his loins I think? Like I didn't pay much attention to Malcolm because he seemed to be a throbbing penis that could also talk and spy on people.

Yeah, he bored me to death. The "I've been oppressed too" stuff really fell flat for me and was so clumsy and repetitive. Oh and I guess he drives the need for a sequel since he's worried (kind of? that whole scene was odd) about his brother.

Anyway, I'm glad I read it but just seemed really shallow overall, which is probably more due to the genre than the book itself.