One of the major themes in Wounded is the conflict between what mid-nineteenth-century society expected women to be, and what my heroine, Sarah, wants to be. In her mild, quiet way, Sarah rejects the Victorian ideal of the submissive, passive, nurturing woman. She is brave enough and ignorant enough to decide that she’ll just go her own way. But in that time and place, the only way she could be free was by shedding her female identity and living as a man. Society wasn’t ready for a woman who stood up for herself and wouldn’t submit.
When Sarah puts on a man’s uniform and joins the Union army, she has no idea how much that decision will cost her. And that’s another major theme in the story.
