Caroline Hartman

Summer Rose is Caroline Hartman’s first novel. Her maternal great grandfather fought with the Army of the Potomac from June 1861 to June 1864. He left behind an honorable account in his detailed diary of the years spent with the Army of the Potomac.

Caroline first read the diary—in his own handwriting—while taking an American History course at Penn State. After graduating, she taught elementary school, raised a family, and has been a constant student of the American Civil War. She read hundreds of history books, dragged her children through battlefields, cemeteries, and countless museums. She walked the fields of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, listening for the drums and feeling the pride as well as the heartache. Caroline Hartman currently lives in Chester County Pennsylvania.

Summer Rose

Historical Fiction

An Epic Tale of Triumph and Tragedy, Love and Loss, and Lives Forever United Both On and Off the Battlefield

The chance meeting of a woman unlike all others, forever changes the life of Union Captain Daniel Charteris, and sets in motion a chain of events powerful enough to destroy friendships, save lives, and possibly even alter the course of the war. When Summer Rose McAllister, orphaned by the Civil War and living alone in the Pennsylvania wilds, comes to the young soldier’s aid, sparks fly and passions blaze.

The beautiful Summer Rose soon becomes Daniel’s wife and, almost overnight, is plunged into the social whirlwind of Washington D.C., a world far removed from her beloved valley where she hunted and trapped and survived by her wits. Undaunted, she straps her Bowie knife beneath her crinolines and joins her husband in his undercover work for President Lincoln—combating child prostitution in the section of the capital dubbed “Murder Bay”—and despite danger from the city's criminal element and an icy reception from Daniel's wealthy family, Summer Rose is happier than she ever imagined.

That is, until Daniel returns to battle and the unthinkable happens. Summer Rose must then fight the most important battle of her life to save her family at any expense.

A sweeping and heroic story, rich with passion and alive with history!