Mary Downing Hahn, HEAR THE WIND BLOW: A Novel of the Civil War

Middle-grade historical fiction, with some edge due to a near-rape (off-stage), murder, light cursing, all the ugliness attached to the end of the Civil War. Oddly, although there are plenty of events--a wounded soldier comes to their house in Virginia; he's found and killed and the Magruder family is burned out as punishment; the mother dies; the two kids ride off on a horse in search of their brother--I found the plot arc lacking. Likable enough characters, a brother and sister (securing both sides of middle-grade readership), but despite all the tragedy, and having many of the right "elements," I was not emotionally drawn to this story.