''Girl in Blue'' is a 2001 novel by

Ann Rinaldi Ann Rinaldi (August 27, 1934 – July 1, 2021)
- Shannon Maughan. July ...

. It is a

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

that takes place during 1861, during the American Civil War.

Plot

16-year-old Sarah Louisa Wheelock lives on a farm near a small village in Michigan in the 1860s. Her abusive father wants her to marry an abusive neighbor who has several children. Instead, she runs away to Flint, Michigan to stay with an aunt, and then ships out with the First Union Greys to fight in the Civil War as a man. She ends up working in a hospital as a gopher. She fights in the first Bull Run. After she is discovered to be a girl, she continues to work for the Union-spying on Rose O'Neal Greenhow.

Reception

This novel takes many of its plot points from the life of

Sarah Emma Edmonds Sarah Emma Edmonds (born Sarah Emma Evelyn Edmondson, married name Seelye, alias Franklin Flint Thompson; December 1841 – September 5, 1898) was a Canadian-born woman who claimed to have served as a man with the Union Army as a nurse and spy du ...

References

2001 American novels Novels by Ann Rinaldi Novels set during the American Civil War Fiction set in 1861 American historical novels Novels set in the 1860s {{2000s-hist-novel-stub