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Cut to the Heart
Inspired by the true heroism of legendary nurse Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, award-winning author Ava Dianne Day weaves a suspenseful blend of fact and fiction in a gripping historical thriller set against the violent upheavals of the Civil War.Assigned to Hilton Head Island, headquarters of the Union Army in the South, Clara Barton finds herself in a limbo that is neither battlefield nor hospital. Here, among emancipated former slaves, Barton must look after wounded Colonel John Elwell--and learn all she can about the community’s folk medicine. But while she longs to return to the front line, she soon discovers the isolated settlement has perils of its own. As Clara’s suspicions escalate, historical events propel the “Angel of the Battlefield” toward a confrontation as old as time itself. On one side stands Clara Barton, the epitome of goodness and humanity; on the other, a sociopath possessed of a mind as brilliant as it is depraved.
418 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 2002
3 people are currently reading
50 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
September 2, 2010
Reading this book was a bit like watching CSI - occasionally gruesome, not always the most subtly crafted, but definitely engaging! The story follows Clara Barton on an assignment to a Union army base in the midst of a Gullah community in 1863 - while a psychotic doctor watches her from the distance and performs some really twisted experiments.
The book was packed with details on the environment (both physical and cultural - that the characters inhabit, which made the unusual setting come alive. While the pacing was a bit uneven, and some things got a bit repetitive (I think every other page referenced Clara's small stature), I did enjoy this book. The historical details brought me into a fascinating time and place I didn't know much about, and the plot with the creepy doctor was thrilling (if gruesome). Overall, a good read, as long as you're prepared to be a bit creeped out at times.
The book was packed with details on the environment (both physical and cultural - that the characters inhabit, which made the unusual setting come alive. While the pacing was a bit uneven, and some things got a bit repetitive (I think every other page referenced Clara's small stature), I did enjoy this book. The historical details brought me into a fascinating time and place I didn't know much about, and the plot with the creepy doctor was thrilling (if gruesome). Overall, a good read, as long as you're prepared to be a bit creeped out at times.
July 12, 2015
Absolutely the worst book I have ever read, this story was absolutely absurd. There was no reason for this book to feature Clara Barton; she had already created an absurd antagonist and he has nothing to do with who Clara was or what she did throughout her life. There was no logical connection to have a real life heroine interact with such a dumb, implausible antagonist; it was a great misuse of a fantastic and absolutely fascinating woman in American history. Had she just written a fictional account of Barton's experiences at Hilton Head, this book could have been readable, but her persistent inclusion of her outrageous antagonist made this book absolutely unreadable. Please avoid this book at all costs. I appreciate fiction created about real historical figures but this was just plain stupid.
April 20, 2021
Clara Barton holds a unique position in US history. She was the only woman allowed on the Civil War battlefield. “To her everlasting frustration, as a female she was not allowed to take up a gun and fight.” Rejected by the nursing corps because she was not a married woman, she sets out to find a way to help the soldiers. She marshals her friends into sending donations of items the soldiers need but which the army is not providing, such as blankets and dressings. The Sanitary Commission in Washington gave her an official designation of “relief worker.” “She had her own permits issued by the US Congress, including a battlefield pass that allowed her to go anywhere, even to the front lines, to distribute her supplies and to assist the medical corps. No ordinary citizen got a battlefield pass that circumvented the whole military chain of command, especially not a woman.” “She walked those battlefields and found men still alive who otherwise would have been left for dead. She’d fulfilled a promise she’d made to her father on his deathbed – she had gone to war in her own way, even if her sex would not allow her to be a real soldier, a hero like he had been.”
Clara recruits her brother David to escort her to her new assignment with the Quartermaster Corps of the Union Army’s Department of the South on Hilton Head Island, since her battlefield pass requires a male military escort. However, her first duty is not on the battlefield at all. She must nurse commanding officer Colonel John Elwell back to health from a compound fracture of his leg.
When a crowd of Gullah women begins chanting outside Colonel Elwell’s quarters one morning as Clara is tending him, she sees a tall black woman named Annabelle who has come pleading for help in finding her missing son George. While inwardly convinced George has gone north via the Underground Railroad, Colonel Elwell promises to look into the matter.
Before long, a hospital ship is due to arrive, and Clara scrambles to get her supplies in order. Needing some help with the physical labor, she hires a young black boy named Erasmus. The two warm to each other, and Clara introduces him to a pair of women who are willing to teach him proper English and how to read and write. They hope to help this teenager learn the things he will need to survive as a free man.
While Clara waits impatiently to fulfill her role in this new place, she begins to receive threatening letters. A doctor stripped of his army rank, her stalker has set up a base of operations on an abandoned plantation a boat’s ride away from Hilton Head Island. He very much hates Clara Barton for getting in the way of his “higher purpose” -- gruesome experiments no human being should endure.
The darkness of war and insanity and rage permeate the threads of this novel. Day introduces a side of Clara Barton not told in the history books, the personal battles waging their own war inside of her. I cannot help but wonder how these personal and global battles have changed with time, and I wonder what Clara Barton would do today with the advent of so much technology. Yet still, her role was to tend the wounded of war and to give help to the soldiers while they awaited medical care and the long-term convalescing they would need to heal.
This was an excellent portrayal of times gone by. Based on history, the fictionalized events round out a unique time in our nation’s past. What this novel succeeds in doing is merging the diverse cultures of the military, the Gullah freed slaves, the civilian population, the medical community, and even the hearts of men and women. While the North and South wage war, people still find love and hope, and life does go on.
Clara recruits her brother David to escort her to her new assignment with the Quartermaster Corps of the Union Army’s Department of the South on Hilton Head Island, since her battlefield pass requires a male military escort. However, her first duty is not on the battlefield at all. She must nurse commanding officer Colonel John Elwell back to health from a compound fracture of his leg.
When a crowd of Gullah women begins chanting outside Colonel Elwell’s quarters one morning as Clara is tending him, she sees a tall black woman named Annabelle who has come pleading for help in finding her missing son George. While inwardly convinced George has gone north via the Underground Railroad, Colonel Elwell promises to look into the matter.
Before long, a hospital ship is due to arrive, and Clara scrambles to get her supplies in order. Needing some help with the physical labor, she hires a young black boy named Erasmus. The two warm to each other, and Clara introduces him to a pair of women who are willing to teach him proper English and how to read and write. They hope to help this teenager learn the things he will need to survive as a free man.
While Clara waits impatiently to fulfill her role in this new place, she begins to receive threatening letters. A doctor stripped of his army rank, her stalker has set up a base of operations on an abandoned plantation a boat’s ride away from Hilton Head Island. He very much hates Clara Barton for getting in the way of his “higher purpose” -- gruesome experiments no human being should endure.
The darkness of war and insanity and rage permeate the threads of this novel. Day introduces a side of Clara Barton not told in the history books, the personal battles waging their own war inside of her. I cannot help but wonder how these personal and global battles have changed with time, and I wonder what Clara Barton would do today with the advent of so much technology. Yet still, her role was to tend the wounded of war and to give help to the soldiers while they awaited medical care and the long-term convalescing they would need to heal.
This was an excellent portrayal of times gone by. Based on history, the fictionalized events round out a unique time in our nation’s past. What this novel succeeds in doing is merging the diverse cultures of the military, the Gullah freed slaves, the civilian population, the medical community, and even the hearts of men and women. While the North and South wage war, people still find love and hope, and life does go on.
September 6, 2018
It's an interesting read about Clara Barton. The shift of perspective from her to some of the other characters can be a source of suspense or relief at times on what's bound to happen or what I thought was going to happen next.
It also gives a good perspective about what people (especially soldiers) go through whenever they are in a war.
It also gives a good perspective about what people (especially soldiers) go through whenever they are in a war.
August 30, 2009
I never forgave Day for stopping the Fremont Jones mystery series. This book was just as interesting- a similar protagonist in that she is a feisty woman making her way in a man's world. I was surprised at how dark and even "sick" parts of this book were but then the bad guy is an out-and-out psychopath. I really enjoyed the parts about her trying to organize the medical situation but the Civil War aspect did get a tiny bit tedious at times. Much preferred the more immediate plot with the madman. The book ended in a way that seemed ripe for a sequel but I don't believe there was ever another Clara Barton adventure.
September 4, 2007
I learned that a favorite author, Dianne Day, is also known as Ava Dianne Day and she wrote this book using that name.We both enjoyed the well-written Fremont Jones series and so my daughter gave me this book. It's gory and a little creepy but the historical background is interesting. Clara Barton is the ultimate "plucky" heroine and she is in the thick of the bloodiest war of American history.An admirer has more than genteel manners in mind, and his medical ethics leave much to be desired. Who can Clara trust?
May 7, 2020
In this atmospheric thriller set in 1863 off the South Carolina coast, Union nurse Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross, plays detective as she ministers to the sick and wounded on Hilton Head Island, with its eerie swamps and Gullah people with their distinctive folk medicine and customs. As the fight for Charleston heats up, Clara receives the call to go to the battlefield. Unbeknownst to Clara, a sinister surgeon, the psychopathic Dr. Chamberlain, is tracking her every move. One of my 17 best mysteries read in 2002.
January 24, 2010
This was a mystery based on the historical character of Clara Barton and a gruesome doctor who was mentally ill and conducting medical experimentation on black former slaves in the South. The author researched the Gullah slaves and dialect as well as Clara Barton's character well, however the fictional back story did not sit well with me.
dnf
September 9, 2011Not for me. I didn't like the psycho's narrative. The book went back and forth from Clara to the psycho watching her and doing heaven knows what to people's body parts. I just wanted a novel about Clara.
July 8, 2016
Day brings Clara Barton to life, including a love interest and a personality that fits a wartime heroine. The dark undertones of a mad scientist add suspense to a well-paced plot with intriguing characters.
March 6, 2013
This was a great book and I learned a lot about Clara Barton from it. Dianne Day's writing is fluid and easy to read. It grabs you and holds your interest in the story. It's a good read.
July 22, 2013
I didn't finish this, but gave up after 99 pages. Not half as good as her other series.
August 31, 2021
What a stinker. Bad writing, bad plot, bad everything.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews