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book cover for Harboring the Enemy

Harboring the Enemy

The Civil War Heroine History Forgot

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Pub Date 11 Nov 2026 | Archive Date 15 Feb 2027


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Description

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 view of her window, packed with starving captives. She begins slipping bread to guards and prisoners alike. Then she hides an escaped Union officer in her cellar and is summoned before the Confederate provost marshal on charges that could hang her.

Choosing her integrity 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 of Erik Larson's The Demon of Unrest and Karen Abbott's Liar, Temptress, Soldier, Spy.


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...


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 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.

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 at Buxton Books in Charleston, SC, the...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9780981848983
PRICE $14.95 (USD)
PAGES 173

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