Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen by Sarah Bird

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"he compelling, hidden story of Cathy Williams, a former slave and the only woman to ever serve with the legendary Buffalo Soldiers.

“Here’s the first thing you need to know about Miss Cathy Williams: I am the daughter of a daughter of queen and my mama never let me forget it.”

Though born into bondage on a “miserable tobacco farm” in Little Dixie, Missouri, Cathy Williams was never allowed to consider herself a slave. According to her mother, she was a captive, destined by her noble warrior blood to escape the enemy. Her chance at freedom presents itself with the arrival of Union general Phillip Henry “Smash ‘em Up” Sheridan, the outcast of West Point who takes the rawboned, prideful young woman into service. At war’s end, having tasted freedom, Cathy refuses to return to servitude and makes the monumental decision to disguise herself as a man and join the Army’s legendary Buffalo Soldiers.

Alone now in the ultimate man’s world, Cathy must fight not only for her survival and freedom, but she also vows to never give up on finding her mother, her little sister, and the love of the only man strong enough to win her heart. Inspired by the stunning, true story of Private Williams, this American heroine comes to vivid life in a sweeping and magnificent tale about one woman’s fight for freedom, respect and independence."

Title:  Daughter of a Daughter of a  Queen 

Author:  Sarah Bird

Publisher:  St Martin's Press

Reviewed By:  Arlena Dean

Rating:  Five

Review:

"Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen" by Sarah Bird

My Thoughts.....

Even though "Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen was a good read I did find it wasn't a easy read where it was 'Human, emotional, touching and so very raw.'  I will say that after reading this novel I did look up Cathy Williams/Williams Cathay and only find a little about her. Yes, she is a real person!  "Her grandmother was a queen in Africa, but she was kidnapped and ended up in slavery in the southern U.S. Her daughter and granddaughter (Cathy) were born into slavery." Cathy was definitely a very interesting courageous strong black woman.  Well, getting into the story we find that this strong black young lady Cathy Williams was torn from her family and taken by Union soldiers to help the cook General Phillip Sheridan's army where Black Americans faced 'many things not only racism but sexism.  Later she joins up with the US Army as a male 'Buffalo Soldiers [the infantry]disguised as a male for several years changing her name to William Cathay. Cathy had done this after seeing how they were treated. In the end will Cathy find her family?  I found this part of the read quite 'heartbreaking story to the very end.'   I do understand that this was a historical fiction read where if you look this William Cathy up you will find that a lots of the details have been altered somewhat here in this story.  This author gives the reader a fascinating and riveting historical read that you will find it hard to put down and that ending!

You will have to pick up this novel "Daughter of a Daughter of a Queen" to see how well this author delivers this storyline to the reader where you will vision these adventures, conflict, danger, heart wrenching,  friendship, history details, romance, with some humor, twist and turns  and some well developed memorable characters.  In the end the reader will get one good read.