Instruct: Classify Amazon reviews into positive or negative sentiment
Query: Wonderful book based on period memoirs

This is very well written historical fiction which deserves to be much better known. Fowler clearly read many historical memoirs before writing this, and recaptures their flavor so well that I occasionally found myself forgetting I was reading fiction. At the same time, the narrative is more continuous and dramatic than one would normally get in a memoir. There are a few very minor historical errors, but in most cases the research seems impeccable. If I have a criticism of this book, it's that it doesn't transcend its memoir basis quite enough: it could use more drama, more extremity. Still, it is very, very good, generally on a par with Killer Angels and much better than the wordy and hyperintellectual Cold Mountain.