Civil War Novel Garners Another National Literary Award

Online, July 9, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Foreword Magazine, a literary magazine for librarians and booksellers, has announced that the Civil War novel Noble Cause is a Bronze winner for the Book of the Year Award in the Romance category.

Written by Gettysburg author Jessica James, Noble Cause has garnered a number of other awards, including the coveted John Esten Cooke Award for Southern Fiction and the Next Generation Award for Regional Fiction. It was also a Finalist in the USA "Best Books 2011" contest in the Historical Fiction category.

Books in this program are judged on editorial excellence, professional production, originality of the narrative, author credentials relative to the book, and the value the book adds to its genre.

The Midwest Book Review calls Noble Cause, "riveting historical fiction," while other reviewers have compared it to Gone with the Wind in scope, grandeur and quality.

The author was featured in the book 50 Great Writers You Should Be Reading, published in 2010, and was recently a Featured Author at the Amelia Island Book Festival in Florida. She has received numerous national awards for her historical romance novels that take place during the American Civil War.

With a talent for combining history and romance, James' books appeal to both men and women and have been praised by history professors, authors and lovers of romantic fiction. Her first novel, Shades of Gray was voted Book of the Year on six book review sites, and was given positive reviews from Romantic Times magazine and the Historical Fiction Society.

One reviewer said the main characters, "are like a Virginian, Civil War-era Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy," while another said the novel was "one of the most moving Civil War stories I have ever read."

Signed copies are available through the author's website at www.jessicajamesbooks.