When we were little, most of us were taught right from wrong, black from white. It was when we grew older that we learned that sometimes these choices are neither black nor white, but fall in a gray area.

In complicated situations, we find shades of gray. Honor, loyalty, and allegiance to county are too often merely words today. During the American Civil War, men and women alike lived, fought, and died for those concepts. Adherence to such principles split families and friends, caused commands on the battlefield to be made on the side of victory at any cost when the choice of retreat may have incurred less damage, and polarized two segments of the country’s society against each other.

In this historical novel, Jessica James takes us through the effects of the Civil War as it occurs in Northern Virginia. Aptly named Shades of Gray, the novel tells the story of Alexander Hunter, a Confederate cavalry officer and the Yankee spy ‘Sinclair.’ Each has a reputation of toughness and daring. When they meet on the battlefield, each makes the downfall of the other their personal goal.

It is only after a wounded ‘Sinclair’ is in Hunter’s custody that he finds the celebrated spy is actually Andrea Monroe, the runaway step-daughter of a large plantation owner in South Carolina. It is because of her step-father’s treatment of slaves that Andrea has cast her lot with the North in the war.

James handles the details of war very well, lacing its web through the pages without diminishing the individuals caught in it. Neither does she preach the doctrine of each side; instead, she allows her characters to reveal their resolve and their reasons to the reader.

Andrea is sent to Hawthorne, the plantation home place of Hunter, to recuperate. Though she does not easily get along at first, she eventually meets a neighbor and becomes her friend. While visiting with the woman, her new friend tells her of her son who has been killed in the war. When she mentions the battle where he died, Andrea is sickened by the realization that her work as a spy helped get this woman’s son and the rest with him ambushed. Andrea is devastated that her faceless enemy turns out to belong to someone she has grown to love.

The power of one is an underlying theme in Shades of Gray, and the choices and deeds of so many individuals have such a tremendous impact on their world. One young female, for example, directly causes chaos and confusion in her job as a spy. At another point, she ends up on a battlefield saving soldiers she once opposed. At another point in her life, she works to keep a group of people united in fashioning new lives for themselves after the war. The power of one should never be underestimated.

Anyone interested in the Civil War period will find the book interesting and thought provoking. James handles battle scenes with vibrant and powerful images, and her descriptions of setting are poetic. There are shades of meaning and lessons to be learned in Shades of Gray, and Jessica James has done a masterful job.