A Grandmother's Courage, Finally Told: My Thoughts on "Harboring the Enemy"
Full disclosure: I am the publisher of a new narrative nonfiction book called Harboring the Enemy: The Civil War Heroine History Forgot by R.C. Duffy.
It won't be released to the public until November 7, 2026. My publishing company, American Legacy Media, is publishing this book. So take what follows for what it's worth. This is the honest opinion of someone with a stake in this book's success. However, I would not have taken it on, and I would not be writing this, if I did not believe in it completely.
Here is how it started. My friend is Robin Duffy. She writes professionally as R.C. Duffy. We were coworkers once in another capacity.
She knew I was a published author and one day she asked if I would help her through the process of writing her grandmother's story.
That grandmother was Anna Pauls Itgen, a German immigrant widow living in Charleston during the Civil War. Robin is Anna's granddaughter, and she had grown up with pieces of a family story she wanted to understand in full.
Hearing that family connection got my attention. It's what hooked me on this story, and on the incredible journey she experienced as she researched it. That journey went on for almost two years.
What never ceases to amaze me is how stories sometimes come together in the most miraculous and bizarre ways. After all the writing I've done about important yet obscure historical figures, I have come to believe that these people who have gone before us are really interested in having their stories told. They find a way to help us tell their stories, if we are willing to listen. Well, Robin listened. What she found was a story about a woman who chose to do what was right even when it put everything she had at risk. She faced a hangman's noose simply because she helped someone with the wrong uniform.
The title tells you the plot. Anna hid a Union soldier in Confederate Charleston. That is not a spoiler so much as it is the premise, and once you know it, the real question the book answers is not what she did, but why, and what it cost her to keep doing it. That's where the book earns its keep. Anna was not a soldier or a spy. She lost her husband in the Battle of Port Royal, and became a young widow and single mother in her early twenties. With so much at risk, she lived as an immigrant in a Confederate city where dual loyalty could get her killed, yet she still chose humanity over self-preservation. That kind of quiet, sustained courage is harder to write than a single dramatic act, and Robin gets it right.
Initial feedback from reputable trade reviewers has been quite positive. Midwest Book Review called it "a deftly written biography based on meticulous research." I want to underline that word, meticulous, because it is not a throwaway compliment. Robin did the archival work. She chased down records, letters, and family history most writers would have given up on, and it shows on every page.
The same review also praised the book's readability, calling it "a simply fascinating read from start to finish." That balance is rare. Books built on careful research can turn dry, and books written for readability can drift from history into historical fan fiction. Robin found the line between the two and stayed on it, which is a harder trick than it sounds.
BookLife, a division of Publisher's Weekly, called it a "Compelling dramatization of a Charleston woman's secret Civil War heroics." That's high praise for a first-time author. There are other very positive reviews, but I won't bore you with them all.
As her publisher, I have watched this book grow from a family story Robin felt compelled to write, to something that is legitimately on the path to gaining national attention. I think this book adds something genuinely new and important to how we understand the Civil War. Not through generals and battles, but through the ordinary people who had to decide, in their own homes, what kind of person they were going to be. Anna Pauls Itgen made her choice. I am glad her granddaughter made sure the rest of us would finally get to know about it.
Read It, Listen to It, and Tell Me What You Think
Harboring the Enemy goes on sale November 7, 2026, the 165th anniversary of the Battle of Port Royal. If you would like a sneak peek before then, I would love to give you early access to this book so you can form your own opinion, whatever that opinion turns out to be. Here are a few ways to do that.
First off, I need to tell you about NetGalley. It's the premier platform publishers use to offer advance copies of books to bloggers, librarians, and other prominent reviewers in exchange for honest feedback. There's no financial incentive for publishers to recruit new users. In fact, I have to pay to use this service. Reviewers, however, can simply set up a free account in a minute or two and then download free ebooks and/or audiobooks. There are thousands of new titles to choose from. All you're asked to do is read (or listen to) the book and leave an honest review.
Here's how you can get involved:
Download the ebook on NetGalley here: netgalley.com/catalog/book/880007.
Listen to the audiobook on NetGalley here: netgalley.com/catalog/book/894303.
(I have to approve everyone who requests a download. If you request access, send me a DM or let me know in the comments and I'll make sure you're approved.)
If you're not ready to commit to an advance copy, but want a heads up when it's available? Reach out through our contact page at americanlegacymedia.com/contact or DM me on LinkedIn and I'll personally let you know when Harboring the Enemy is available.
You can pre-order a copy here, and you'll get your copy on or before November 7.
And once you've read or listened, I would be grateful if you shared your honest review on Goodreads: goodreads.com/book/show/257241169-harboring-the-enemy.
Pre-publication reviews are critical to the success of small publishers. It's the best way for us to compete with the big, New York-based publishers who control 80% of the US trade book market. Support indie publishing by reading and reviewing the books they publish.
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