This book delightfully scratched an itch to learn more about Mary Bowser, an American heroine and spy.

"The Secrets of Mary Bowser" is a fictionalized account of the life of Mary Bowser, a real woman who was born enslaved and then, some years after being freed, returned to Virginia and posed as a slave in order to spy on the Confederate president Jefferson Davis. I was thoroughly impressed by this book! Leveen does a masterful job of piecing together a character and narrative from, what I can gather, very little historical record of the real Mary Bowser. She handles some sensitive topics with great care and nuance—I loved the reoccurring theme of how even the white abolitionists were not at all above racism, like the ostensibly well-intentioned Bet who continued to boss Mary around even after she was freed, and who never seemed to reconcile with her privilege despite her beliefs. Leveen also does an excellent job of making you feel what it would be like to live through the daily civilian realities of the Civil War.

I learned a lot from this book, and I wish I could meet the real Mary Bowser—her bravery was so incredible yet I had never heard of her before picking up this book. Definitely recommend for anyone interested in the Civil War, or honestly if you're not it's just a great story of a real and courageous woman from history.

3.5 stars

This novel is a really cool story, though from what I can tell a lot of it isn’t based in fact - unfortunately. I think I liked the beginning portions of this book best, when Mary was a student in Philadelphia. The descriptions of the city were super interesting, and I enjoyed hearing of Mary’s life as a student and her relationships with friends and a beau.

About halfway through, Mary returns to the South, and once the Civil War starts, she begins work as a spy for the North. While this part was interesting - mostly for the details of Mary’s perspective on the war from the Confederate side, while still wanting the Union to win - at this point the novel got kind of long and less intriguing... which is odd, I know.

A pretty usual historical fiction novel, and for a novel about war and slavery, there really wasn’t any gruesome detail, which definitely would have made the story more compelling.

I absolutely loved the first half of this book, a real page turner. But as the book continued it got more and more far fetched and I had a hard time believing a lot of what was happening. Also, the first half of the book seemed well written and was at a good pace. The second half seemed rushed or sloppy. I still think this is a good book, but for historical fiction, it was a little too "fiction" for me. I would still recommend this book, but for me it was not one that I "couldn't put down" during the entirety of the book.

I love this beautiful book - every page. It was long and took me nearly a month to read, but that was mostly because I wanted to savor it. I loved Mary, loved her parents, loved Wilson, loved Hattie, and truly loved Bet (that might be my only gripe - sometimes it felt like Mary didn't appreciate Bet enough).

This book was a fascinating look at the Civil War from a slave's viewpoint. Her northern experience of judgmentalism from both society blacks and uneducated blacks, plus the prejudice she still faced as a black person in the north, were situations I'd never considered. As was the mixed emotions of wanting the war to go on long enough for it to truly end slavery versus any kind of compromise, even while knowing the suffering it caused for people on both sides and all colors.

It was also fascinating to see the institution of slavery and the war itself from the viewpoint of a wealthy, educated southern woman who opposed slavery, bucking the system and her family to help the slaves in her care gain their freedom.

I loved the idea that a free black woman could disguise herself as a slave in President Davis' house and so easily steal the Confederate's secrets because they couldn't see her mind for the color of her skin. Maybe it's over the top to think one slave could have that kind of impact, or one white woman could get away with all she did in Richmond at the time of the war, but maybe not. Either way Leveen made it believable with her beautiful, clean writing.

A fantastic telling of an important story.

I felt better about the too-convenient plotting and the fact that there was zero spycraft for the first half of the book, after I read that the historian author was trying to depict things (like the existence of supportive parents and spouse, or tangible historical consequences for her actions) that the real-life Mary probably never had.

I enjoyed reading this, I liked the characters and thought it was an interesting story. 3 1/2 stars would be more apt.

What a tasty treat, full of my favorite ingredients: a unique perspective on history, an incredible character, an unpredictable storyline, fantastic details, a PERFECT ending, and intelligent writing. I loved it! Not much is known about Mary Bowser, the real woman who inspired this book, but the author beautifully fills in specifics to present a captivating story. After being freed from slavery, Mary went to school in Philadelphia and returned to the south to make use of her photographic memory. She posed as a slave in the home of Jefferson Davis, the Confederate President during the Civil War, and purloined information to benefit emancipation. Doesn't that sound good!? Try a bite. You won't be able to stop yourself from gobbling up the whole thing!

The story of a young slave girl who is freed, sent to Philly for an education, and returns to VA, pretending to be a slave while working as a spy. Great story premise, but the writing was dull and the ending was drawn out too long.