Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War

Originally published as In the Lion's Den

Winner of the San Diego Book Award for Best Historical Fiction

Director's Mention, Langum Prize for American Historical Fiction

1861: The war that's been brewing for a decade has exploded, pitting North against South. Fearing that England will support the Confederate cause, President Lincoln sends Charles Francis Adams, son of John Quincy Adams, to London. But when Charles arrives, accompanied by his son Henry, he discovers that the English are already building warships for the South. As Charles embarks on a high-stakes game of espionage and diplomacy, Henry reconnects with his college friend Baxter Sams, a Southerner who has fallen in love with Englishwoman Julia Birch. Julia's family reviles Americans, leaving Baxter torn between his love for Julia, his friendship with Henry, and his obligations to his own family, who entreat him to run medical supplies across the blockade to help the Confederacy. As tensions mount, irrevocable choices are made--igniting a moment when history could have changed forever.

Elizabeth Cobbs Hoffman is an award-winning historian and writer. She received her PhD in American history from Stanford University and is the Melbern Glasscock Chair at Texas A&M University. She has been a Fulbright scholar in Ireland and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC. Her novels include Broken Promises: A Novel of the Civil War and The Hamilton Affair. Her nonfiction books are All You Need Is Love: The Peace Corps and the Spirit of the 1960s and The Rich Neighbor Policy: Rockefeller and Kaiser in Brazil.