The Whiskey Woman of Wilson’s Creek

In 1861, Union soldier and Episcopal seminarian Private Krieger Andrewes is severely wounded at the Battle of Wilson’s Creek in southwest Missouri. Facing surgical amputation of his leg and probable death at the hands of a field surgeon, Krieger is spirited away from the battlefield by a mysterious backwoods woman who calls herself a healer. She saves Andrewes and nurses him back to health until Krieg returns to Saint Louis to resume his studies. Both Krieg and the healer consider their callings, commitments, and what love looks like in the midst of a dangerous war that jeopardizes their futures. Buttressed by painstaking historical research, Whiskey Woman, introduces one of the most engaging female characters in literature and follows two characters through a harrowing but inspiring ride amidst the struggles of war. Told without sentimentality and moralization, this story introduces readers to the vibrant and colorful culture that marked the Ozarks in the mid-nineteenth Century.