An Irish girl in the Civil War

My Last Skirt: The Story of Jennie Hodgers, Union Soldier by Lynda Durrant is a great book. It was so interesting for me to learn about what an Irish girl faced in the mid-1800s in her native land. And then, after tragedy strikes their family, she and her brother travel to America to find the “gold just lying in the streets.” Of course, it wasn’t that easy to make their way in a new country.

Jennie's adventures as she disguises herself as a boy are funny and sad, all at the same time. She knows she can make more money if employers think she’s male, which was unfair but a reality then. What will her secret mean to her life long-term? I was very surprised to see how she ended up. A definite gem in the genre of historical fiction.