Williamsburg, Virginia, is once more the scene in this second book of
Thane's series, but the time is now the 1860s. Some of the characters
are the descendants of those in the first novel, Dawn's Early Light,
and Grandmother Day, who was 16 when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown,
is now 95. Once, she can remember, it was Massachusetts that was
threatening to secede instead of South Carolina. And when she was a girl
they never seemed to think much about Yankees, one way or the other. But
when a Yankee comes to Williamsburg in the tense autumn of 1860 and
red-haired Eden Day falls heels over head in love with him, her great
grandmother takes the long view--besides, she likes him herself. The
story moves from Williamsburg to Richmond to Washington and back again
during the dreadful years between Fort Sumter and Appomattox. In
addition to the fictitious characters, Jeb Stuart and General Lee,
Pickett, Magruder, and Stonewall Jackson are all seen through the eyes
of the men who followed them into battle. Like Dawn's Early Light,
Yankee Stranger is full of action and romance, but most importantly,
it presents a vivid re-creation of a vanished world.