A Historical Fiction Series by Virginia R. Bensen
Two Novels, One Divided Valley
A nation divides. A town stands in the path. Step into the Shenandoah Valley, where two families, one forbidden love, and a war that will not stay away meet in Winchester, Virginia.
Winchester, Virginia. On the eve of war.
The Winchester Series
The Winchester Series is set in and around Winchester, Virginia, a market town on the edge of the Shenandoah that stood where armies would meet again and again. Read the books in order, or begin with the one that calls to you.
Book One
Shenandoah Valley, 1846. When Jack MacDougal rides out to buy dairy bulls from a Mennonite farmer, he finds something worth far more than livestock: Sarah Schmidt. Their forbidden courtship, across class, faith, and family opposition, is the heart of the first novel and the first spark of everything the second will carry into war.
Book Two
At Abbington Hills, the MacDougal family lives in a world ruled by reputation, the high society also known throughout this series as the Connexion, loyalty, and tradition. As tensions rise around Harper's Ferry and Winchester becomes a town caught between Union forces, Confederate loyalties, and partisan violence, the family must decide what matters most: social standing, family duty, personal freedom, or survival.
Blending fictional characters with real Civil War era events.
A First Look: Book Two
Chapter 01
Winchester, Virginia. Orchard country and church spires, standing where armies will meet again and again.
Read About Book TwoChapter 02
A town between two armies. Union forces, Confederate loyalties, and partisan violence press in on a community that would rather be left alone.
Read About Book TwoChapter 03
The MacDougal family of Abbington Hills, the Schmidt family of the Mennonite farms, and the neighbors, servants, and soldiers whose lives cross theirs.
Read About Book TwoChapter 04
Social standing, family duty, personal freedom, or survival. Every character is asked what they will give up, and for whom.
Read About Book TwoChapter 05
A house divided, a heart connected. Two people from two different social classes, bound together as the country comes apart around them.
Read About Book Two
From the Blog
Civil War and History
How Winchester's roads shaped the war that moved through it again and again.
Women's History
On the households, farms, and families held together by the women left behind.
Writing Life
Notes on research, record keeping, and turning history into a novel.
The Podcast
Conversations on women's history, the Winchester Series, and the writing life. Episodes coming soon.
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