The Last Silk Dress by Ann Rinaldi
For many young adults, myself included, author Ann Rinaldi is our first introduction into the world of historical fiction. With each new book, readers are introduced to a different time in history and get to view it through the eyes of a young woman. While I can’t remember the first Rinaldi novel I ever read, I do remember the one that had the most impact: “The Last Silk Dress.” A friend, who also loved Ann Rinaldi when she was younger, recently referred to “The Last Silk Dress” as “Gone with the Wind junior,” which is a very fair description. I think it’s also fair to say that my love for “The Last Silk Dress” is what translated into my eventual love for “Gone with the Wind.”
Susan Chilmark is a headstrong teenager living in Virginia during the Civil War. Having strong Confederate ideals, Susan and her best friend Connie decide to assist in the war effort by helping the society ladies construct a hot-air balloon out of silk dresses, a hot-air balloon that will be used to spy on the Yankees.
But what starts out as a very black and white war becomes a much grayer battle when Susan meets her dashing older brother Lucien and finds out the secrets that her family has been keeping. When Susan falls in love with a Yankee she has to choose between the past that she is familiar with and the future she wants.