Harboring the Enemy
with Emily Thiel (Narrator)
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Pub Date Nov 7 2026 | Archive Date Dec 15 2026
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Description
“Compelling dramatization of a Charleston woman’s secret Civil War heroics.” Booklife – Publisher’s Weekly
“Simply fascinating read from start to finish...reads with all the emotional suspense and thrills of a novel.” – Midwest Book Review
Charleston, 1861. Anna Itgen is a twenty-year-old German immigrant, newly married and expecting her first child, when cannon fire erupts from Fort Sumter and upends her world. Within months, her husband is killed at the Battle of Port Royal.
As a single mother, Anna works alongside her neighbors to survive the Union blockade, all while a Confederate prison sits within a stone's throw of her window, packed with starving Union captives. She begins slipping bread to guards and prisoners alike. Then she hides an escaped Union officer in her cellar—and finds herself facing a traitor's noose.
Choosing humanity over self-preservation, Anna Itgen risked everything for a stranger who wore the wrong uniform.
A clean read grounded in a true story, Harboring the Enemy is for readers who like Erik Larson's The Demon of Unrest and Andrew Delbanco’s The War Before the War.
Advance Praise
"Compelling dramatization of a Charleston woman’s secret Civil War heroics." — Booklife (Publisher's Weekly)
"A simply fascinating read from start to finish... an impressively original and unreservedly recommended addition to American Civil War History/Biography collections." — Midwest Book Review
Marketing Plan
Harboring the Enemy launches November 7, 2026 — the 165th anniversary of the Battle of Port Royal, a pivotal event in the book's narrative — with a launch event in the works at Buxton Books in Charleston, SC, the very city where the story takes place. The campaign is anchored by trade reviews from Publishers Weekly, Kirkus, and BookLife, expected in early October, which will drive targeted media outreach to Civil War history, women's history, and German-American heritage press in the weeks leading into launch. Additional promotion includes trade and wholesaler distribution through Ingram, regional Southern media coverage tied to the Charleston setting, and social media campaigns highlighting the book's status as a documented true story reclaimed from a 1915 newspaper interview.
Available Editions
| ISBN | 9781736457634 |
| PRICE | $11.43 (USD) |
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Average rating from 5 members
Featured Reviews
Teresa G, Reviewer
This Audio Story swept me away to 1862 with its descriptive writing, and the narrator brought the history and characters to life. The plot is full of historical Civil War events along with the culture of the day. You find love, courage and human compassion amidst the war, hate, and pride. I was so swept away that I listened to this book in one day.
Thank you to NetGalley and American Legacy Media for the opportunity to listen to the audible book in exchange for my opinion.
Reviewer 1508248
A moving piece of family history that brings the story of a German immigrant woman and her experiences during the American Civil War to life.
Anna Pauls Itgen Whitstruck arrived in America from Hanover, Germany, with her family in the 1840s and eventually settled in Charleston, South Carolina. Her life became intertwined with the Civil War, including the surrender of Fort Sumter and her efforts to help two Union prisoners. What makes her story particularly compelling is that she continued helping them despite the danger involved. She was eventually discovered and faced execution, but her honesty ultimately spared her life.
I found her motivation especially interesting: she believed that she would have helped the same people regardless of which side of the country she had been living on. Her story also becomes deeply personal as she experiences loss, including the death of her first husband during the war.
The writing itself is straightforward and easy to follow, and I appreciated how thoroughly researched the book appears to be. The author’s notes and bibliography add credibility and provide a useful foundation for the historical events being discussed. More than anything, I enjoyed seeing a lesser-known personal story used to illuminate such a complicated period in American history.
This was a touching and worthwhile read, particularly for anyone interested in personal accounts of the Civil War and the experiences of immigrants during that period. It’s a reminder of how valuable individual stories can be when preserving history and preventing it from being forgotten or distorted.
Thank you to NetGalley and American Legacy Media for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Maranda W, Reviewer
What a beautiful opportunity to read. Not only about an American piece of History, but it's a piece of family history as well. Anna had the grit and determination of every immigrant that came across the US borders to make their own life. I was truly transfixed by the narrator and the story from the moment it started. I'm truly sad that her story has not been shared more And the historical geek in me wants to go find the article that was published just days 74th birthday.
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