The Loyal League Books 1, 2, and 3 by Alyssa Cole

 The Loyal League is a covert organization of spies during the Civil War, many of whom are former slaves. Although each book can be read as a standalone novel, it is helpful to read them in order as the main characters return as secondary characters in books 2 and 3.

An Extraordinary Union (#1) (2017)

Elle Burns, a former slave, is living in freedom in Massachusetts. She possesses an extraordinarily memory for visual images and uses this skill to aid the Loyal League, a covert organization of spies. For her latest mission, Elle agrees to return to the South as a mute slave to spy for the Union Army.

Malcolm McCall is a detective in Pinkerton's Secret Service masquerading as a Union soldier. His mission is to infiltrate a Rebel enclave in Virginia. Elle and Malcom join forces when they discover a plot that could turn the tide of the war in the Confederacy’s favor.

Because Elle is acting as a slave she is regarded as less than human in the South. The members of the Caffrey household she serves, and their visitors, speak freely when Elle is in the room, never realizing they are giving away secrets. The situation is a spy’s gold mine.

Malcolm’s skills lie in his charm which make it very difficult for Elle to trust him, even when they are working together. He is also white but appears to have some understanding of the black man’s world.

The author never loses sight of the black perspective. She freely shares Elle’s thoughts and emotions about how blacks are viewed and treated and the danger of her growing feelings for Malcolm.

The story is based on Mary Bowser, a freed slave who spied for the Union Army.

3.85 stars on Goodreads, 4.3 on Amazon

A Hope Divided (#2) (2017)

Marlie Lynch, a gifted healer, is the daughter of a freed black woman and a wealthy white plantation owner. Her half-sister Sarah, an abolitionist, acknowledges Marlie as a member of the family and the two live together in the family home. Things go south rapidly when Sarah's brother and his malicious, racist Southern-belle wife return home

Unbeknown to Sarah’s brother, Marlie has been aiding the North’s war effort by providing tisanes and poultices for Union prisoners, assisting slaves and Freeman escape north and providing the Union with coded messages about anti-Rebel uprisings in the woods near her. When the vicious Confederate Home Guard takes over Marlie's home as their new base of operations in the war against Southern resistors Marlie’s future is in jeopardy.

Marlie soon learns that having a white father will no longer protect her. Although she's a free woman, she can still be sold into slavery and she becomes a prisoner in the house she'd always considered home. Marlie’s fear and uncertainty and the injustice of it all jumps right off the pages.

What the Guard does not know is that Marlie is harboring a wounded Ewan McCall in her laboratory, after his escape from a Confederate prison. When a shocking family secret is revealed and Marlie's freedom is on the line, she escapes the house with Ewan’s help. The pair follow the path of the Underground Railroad and get caught in a battle before they are even out of North Carolina.

4.09 stars on Goodreads, 4.6 on Amazon

An Unconditional Freedom (#3) (2019)

We first met Daniel Cumberland in An Extraordinary Union. Like Elle, he is also free and one of her closest friends. That all changes when he is kidnapped and sold back into slavery. In An Unconditional Freedom a plot to free Daniel is carried out by Malcolm McCall (the hero of An Extraordinary Union) and Daniel is recruited into the Loyal League. Here Daniel finds opportunities to help take down the Confederacy and vent the rage that consumes him.

Janeta Sanchez’s lives in a small Florida town that has been taken over by the Union army. When her father is unjustly imprisoned for treason, Janeta must spy for the Confederacy in order to gain his freedom. Janeta agrees to infiltrate the Loyal League as a double agent, and she finds herself teamed up with Daniel. Daniel has a secret mission of his own to settle a personal vendetta and has no desire for a partner, particularly one with no experience.

Janeta has been brought up in a culture that supports slavery and life in the real world soon causes her to question everything she believes it. Daniel plays a large part in this de-programing.

As in the other two titles in the series, the author does not shy away from the brutality of the Civil War, the injustice of slavery, the invisibility of slaves, and the pain of family secrets, alongside humor and lightness.

4.11 stars on Goodreads, 4.5 on Amazon