The Distaff Side, home of Kathleen A. Ernst, author and historian

Hearts of Stone
With her father gone to join the Yankee troops and her best friend, Ben, sympathizing with the Confederates, fifteen-year-old Hannah finds her world torn apart by the Civil War. Then her mother suddenly dies. Now responsible for keeping the young family together, Hannah makes the difficult decision to leave her beloved Cumberland Mountain with her brother and sisters and set out on the long and dangerous journey to Nashville, in search of their only living relative. Their quest to reclaim their family leads them into the very heart of the Civil War--and could cost them their lives. For more about this historical novel from Dutton Children's Books, click HERE.	My back complained as i stepped onto the porch, so i stopped to stretch out a kink. But my feet planted themselves right there when I heard Mama and Pa arguing inside the cabin. "I'm fixing to go," Pa was saying. "And there's a few other men of like mind. We're thinking to leave next week." Mama's voice edged like an ax. "Your family needs you." "I know that," he said. "But the army needs me more." All that frost got sucked right into my gut. Folks in East Tennessee had been making a fuss about Mr. Lincoln's war for weeks. Some believed in the Union that the Yankee soldiers were trying to hold together. Some cheered when Tennessee joined the new Confederacy of Southern states. Some had no tolerance for either side. I'd never heard Pa speak about it in particular. I didn't even know which army he thought to join. To read more, click HERE.
Highland Fling
Fifteen year old Tanya, reeling from her parents' divorce, is far from ready to embrace her Scottish heritage at North Carolina's Cross Creek Highland Games. She should be back in Green Bay, Wisconsin, doing what she was born to do: make documentaries. But during the course of an eventful weekend, Tanya learns that to go forward means turning to confront the past--her own past and that of her Scots forebears. For more about this contemporary novel from Cricket Books, HERE.	I could just make out the judges’ table beyond the lights. Hold it together, I told myself. You can do this. You can get on a stage without disaster. Then the piper, surely bored out of his mind by now, started another round of Gillie Chalium. We bowed and began to dance. The sword dance, say those who know such things, was performed by Highland warriors on the eve of battle. At one time only men danced the sword dance, but the choreography hadn’t changed when women began to compete. It involves hopping daintily about the crossed swords in an intricate series of steps. A dancer must never touch one of the swords with her foot. I kicked one of mine—oh, say fifteen seconds into the dance. To read more, click HERE.
Secrets in the Hills
Josefina has heard tales and legends all her life: rumors of gold and silver buried in the hills, and even tales of a ghostly Weeping Woman who haunts the countryside. But she never imagined that such stories might be true--until one day a mysterious stranger arrives at her rancho. This suspenseful tale is set in New Mexico in 1826. For more about this American Girl Mystery, click HERE.	Josefina stepped closer to the window, carefully avoiding a basket of pumpkin stems. Pressing a palm against the wall, she held her breath. And the sound came again, drifting through the open window above her head: a woman’s sob, low and full of anguish. Josefina’s bones turned to ice. Only one woman roamed at night, weeping and wailing: the ghost, La Llorona! To read more, click HERE.
Danger at the Zoo
A Kit Mystery. Kit lands a summer job with her local newspaper. As she noses around the zoo gathering facts for a kids' column, Kit stumbles into some strange monkey business. Her reporter's instincts tell her that she's onto something worth investigating--and she's determined to get the story! For more about this American Girl Mystery, click HERE.	Will leaned on a shovel, looking tired. "I know that door was secure when I left," he insisted. "I double-checked every door in my area." Kit stared at a brilliant blue-and-yellow bird in the nearest cage. "What time did you finish your work?" she asked finally. "I left a little after nine o-clock, just like always." Will sighed. "Officer Culpepepr found the door unlocked an hour later." "It can't be a coincidence," Stirling said. "One door left unlocked--maybe. But twice in one week?" "I don't know what's going on," WIll said, setting the shovel across his wheelbarrow. "But there's nothing I can do about it. I'm just a hobo. Nobody's going to believe me." The look in his eyes twisted Kit's heart. "We believe you, Will!" To read more, click HERE.
Betrayal at Cross Creek
It's 1775. Elspeth Monro, newly come from Scotland, is just beginning to feel at home in North Carolina, with a new friend and a weaving apprenticeship she loves. To Elspeth, the brewing Revolution feels very far away--until someone starts to threaten her own family, trying to force them to join the rebels. When her grandfather marches off to fight with the British, Elspeth is left alone to protect her grandmother--and to figure out who is putting her family in danger! For more about this American Girl History Mystery from Pleasant Company, click HERE.	Elspeth was glad when Grandda began to sing an old Scottish ballad. The familiar song almost lulled her to sleep--but suddenly he stopped mid-phrase and pulled Moll to a halt. Elspeth jerked upright. Grandda -" "Wheesht!" he whispered, and jerked a hand in her direction: be still. Mercy sat up silently beside her. Then Elspeth heard what had caught Grandda's attention: a saddle's creak, slow hoof beats. Coming toward them. Who would ride without a lantern on such a dark night? "Take the lines, Elisaid," Grandda whispered. Elspeth reached over the cart's seat and felt the heavy leather lines pressed into her suddenly shaking fingers. To read more, click HERE.
Ghosts of Vicksburg
Jamie Carswell, a young soldier with the 14^th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment, is haunted by the civilian suffering he witnesses while campaigning in Mississippi. His favorite cousin, Althea, is already tormented by a past mistake when she finds herself trapped inside Vicksburg during the Union Army’s siege of that Confederate city in 1863. Ghosts of Vicksburg is the compelling story of two young people struggling to find their way during one of the most dramatic campaigns of the Civil War. For more about this American Civil War novel from White Mane Press, click HERE.	A tiny splash pricked the night. What direction had it come from? Goosebumps rose on his skin. Then a breath of damp air brought the sound of a voice. The snatch of words were unintelligible. But they were unmistakably Southern. He’d spent too many hours arguing with his cousin Althea to mistake that drawl. “Who’s there?” Jamie demanded, his voice ripping open the night. “Who goes there?” Silence. Heart thumping, Jamie eased the rifle to his shoulder. Eased back the hammer with a trembling finger. Gritted his teeth. Waited. Crack! A footfall snapped a stick. And then the night exploded. To read more, click HERE.
Whistler in the Dark
It’s 1867. Twelve-year-old Emma Henderson is mortified when her Mother takes to wearing a Reform Dress—hideous bloomers! Worse, Mother has accepted a newspaper job in wild, far-off Colorado Territory. But even Emma can’t imagine just how badly things will go in Twin Pines. From the moment she and Mother step off the horse-drawn stagecoach, it’s clear that someone doesn’t want them there. For more on this American Girl History Mystery from Pleasant Company, click HERE.	"Don’t! Emma wanted to cry. Maybe The Whistler is waiting inside!" But Mother charged inside before the words came out. When she followed, Emma felt a sinking sensation in her stomach. The press cabinet doors were open. The typecases lay on their sides, discarded. And the type—hundreds of tiny bits of lead, which she had spent hours sorting and organizing the day before—was scattered over the sawdust floor. "That’s enough." Mother sounded defeated. "That is absolutely the last straw." To read more, click HERE.
Retreat from Gettysburg
Young Chigger O'Malley is glad when General Lee's battered Confederate Army is trapped nearby while retreating from their defeat at Gettysburg in 1863. Chigger's father and three older brothers had been killed serving in the famed Irish Brigade, and he hopes the Union Army will attack, crush the rebels, and end the war. But when he and his mother are forced to care of a wounded rebel, the questions of right and wrong -- of friend and enemy -- become much more difficult to answer. For more about this American Civil War novel from White Mane Press, click HERE.	The first gray light of a new morn was creeping across the moldy floorboards. Ma crouched beside the pallet of blankets on the floor where I slept, and shook my shoulder. "Chig, get up. Trouble." She was dressed, but her hair hung down her back in a loose braid. "What is it?" I jumped to my feet, quick pulled on my trousers, and fastened the suspenders-all that held them up, these days. "I don't know. See to the door." My heart was pounding like the fist of whoever was beyond the door. In the seconds it took to open the door I wondered if my brothers would have been scared, if they were still alive. I didn't think so. They'd all screwed up the courage to enlist in the Union Army, after all…especially Patrick and Liam, who knew when they left that wars were not about fun and glory after all. I found three Rebels on the front step... To read more, click HERE.
Trouble At Fort La Pointe
Suzette Choudoir has spent each of her twelve summers at La Pointe Island on Lake Superior, where Ojibwe people camp by the French fur-trade fort. It is 1732 and if her papa wins the trappers' competition, the prize will let him stay with his Ojibwe family year-round instead of wintering in far-off Montréal with the other French voyageurs. But a troublemaker sabotages the competition, and Papa. Only someone who's both Ojibwe and French can figure out what's going on -- someone like Suzette. For more on this American Girl History Mystery from Pleasant Company, click HERE.	Soon the shore of the mainland faded behind them. Content, Suzette barely noticed when she felt a trickle of cold water in the bottom of the canoe. She reached for a piece of heavy cotton cloth kept as protection against leaks, and sopped up the water. But before she could wring out the cloth, the trickle became a stream. “Papa! We’re taking water.” “Mop it up the best you can. It can’t be serious. Yellow Wing and I sealed every seam with fresh pitch yesterday.” Papa began to sing again. At first Suzette wasn’t worried either. Wasn’t Papa one of the best canoe men on the great lake? He and Yellow Wing knew how to tend canoes. But water was soon appearing faster than she could soak it up. She scrambled to find a small birchbark mukuk and began to bail. Papa stopped singing. “I’ve got water back here now. What is this?” He sounded puzzled. Mama turned around. “My feet are wet too. Phillipe, shall I stop paddling and help bail?” “No.” Papa’s blue eyes narrowed with worry. “We’re a long way from either shore. We need to paddle hard. Suzette, keep bailing.” To read more, click HERE.
Too Afraid to Cry
This adult non-fiction history book tells the stories of the civilians who were caught up in the devastating 1862 Civil War battles of South Mountain and Antietam, Maryland -- the latter being the single bloodiest day in American history. Based on twelve years of meticulous research, this book includes never before published period photos. For more on this nonfiction book from Stackpole Books, click HERE.	"There was a red haze from the sunset…the brick of the church was red, and as far as I could see were suffering, crying, or dead men…red, red, red. It was a red stew. I can remember my mother laboring with three big baskets and I holding her pettiskirts… pulling a large bundle along the ground… and all of us, my brothers and sisters, too afraid to cry." --A Sharpsburg Maryland woman's memories of being a child during the Battle of Antietam To read more, click HERE.
The Bravest Girl in Sharpsburg
The daring adventures of best friends Teresa Kretzer and Savilla Miller have earned them the title of "the bravest girls in Sharpsburg" and the respect of Teresa's shy sister Bethie, but as the American Civil War looms, they become political enemies. When the fighting comes to Sharpsburg, each girl finds new meanings of courage, friendship, loss, and love amidst the Battle of Antietam. Based on actual persons and incidents. For more about this historical novel from White Mane Publishing, click HERE.	I can't look back and point to a time when the trouble started. I'd left school and started my millinery business when the war began in 1861, and angry talk had been peppering Sharpsburg for as long as I could remember. Jiggers! Local men tended to congregate in my father's blacksmith shop, so we heard it all. They shouted and argued about the idea of war long before it actually came. Some people in Sharpsburg were for the Union, and some were Rebels who wanted the South to leave and create a new country. Since Maryland bordered both the Union and the new Confederacy, nobody was quite certain for a time which side our state would be part of. I knew exactly where my loyalties lay... To read more, click HERE.
The Night Riders of Harpers Ferry
During the weeks before the capture of Harpers Ferry by General Stonewall Jackson's Confederate troops, young Solomon Hargreave struggles to adopt to being a soldier in the newly-formed 8th New York Cavalry. As the noose tightens around Harper's Ferry he rescues and befriends Mahalia Sutter, the daughter of a lockkeeper on the B&O Canal. But when Solomon is ordered to spy on her family he has to learn to trust his instincts -- in love and in war. Based on a true story. For more about this historical novel from White Mane Publishing, click HERE.	"You're in the Cavalry?" That I was proud of. "Yes I am, Miss Sutter. Company H, Eighth New York Cavalry Regiment." "Corbin's in the cavalry," Howie announced, kicking the table leg. I smiled at him. "Really? What regiment?" "Howie, be quiet," Mahalia said. She startled me, since she hadn't had a word to say since I'd come back downstairs. I stared at her. For the first time, she looked me square in the eye. "My brother crossed the river." She threw the words down on the table like a dare. Crossed the river. I knew what that meant in this cantankerous border state. Her brother was riding for the Confederacy... To read more, click HERE.

Kathleen's Books