The very beautiful Diana meets the ever-dashing Philip in 1838. Following a short courtship, Philip leaves for military duty overseas. After a two-year separation, he returns and they are married. As their story unfolds, a very tumultuous and disturbing relationship is revealed that includes love, hate, death, infidelity and drugs. Not exactly your match-made-in-heaven romance.
Philip's only interest seems to be the military. After working for the War Department, he leaves for Fort Leavenworth to further his career. Diana, not wishing to be left alone, goes against everyone's wishes and risks her life and that of their young daughter to be with Phillip. Of course, not overjoyed to see her, Philip tolerates her arrival. Diana only stays a short time, becomes pregnant again, then leaves to go back East where she supervises the building of their new home in New York City. Philip joins her after the birth of their son, but leaves soon after for the war with Mexico. When he returns, he becomes a very dark and disturbing man.
Diana reacts by doing the unthinkable and leaves him. She uses all of her strength and determination to establish a life for herself and their four children without him. Philip doesn't understand her actions and works very diligently to win her back. Will he succeed?
In writing THE FIERCER HEART, Gilchrist was inspired by actual documents about General Philip Kearny and Diana Moore Bullitt Kearny. Liberties were taken while developing the characters, and as a result, an excellent historical fiction of our nation and the events leading up to the Civil War was created. Her first book, THE GOOD JOURNEY, is another great story and deserves a place on the bookshelf next to this one.
This is the story of an American love affair.Intimate and
painfully real, this epic tale from the pages of history is
based on the lives of vivacious and iron-willed Diana
Bullitt, a Southern woman from an illustrious colonial
family, and General Philip Kearny, one of the Union's
legendary military leaders, a dissolute and passionate man
descended from two centuries of New York aristocracy.
In antebellum America, a time when appearances are
paramount, Kearny introduces his beautiful young bride to a
mesmerizing world of opulence and power. But Diana's
tranquil existence soon ends when Kearny joins his cavalry
company in Mexico and returns home from the war mutilated
and suffering from trauma.
Though Diana struggles to free Philip of his demons, she
discovers that she must either follow her conscience and
begin a new life for herself or submit to societal pressure
and ignore Philip's devastating addictions and his
indiscreet liaisons with other women. Rebelling against her
husband, Diana embarks on a perilous journey, experiences
the full power of her own abilities, and changes
profoundly, shedding her provincial ideas of wifely duty
and propriety.
Even as Philip's and Diana's twin destinies spiral
inexorably toward disaster with the impending Civil War,
the couple is entrapped by the persistence of their desire,
their pride, and their abiding love for each other.
Micaela Gilchrist uses privately held correspondence,
unpublished diaries, and family legends to create an
unforgettable love story inspired by historical figures and
actual events.
No excerpt available.
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