(Bud)
MARSHA - My civil war and post-war anthology. I welcome suggestions for additions. What these have in common besides (and far more important than...) the setting, is the human, tender, lyrical telling of extremely compelling stories that happen to involve this particular conflict.
My favorite, of course, is Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier.
Besides the fabulous story—made into a wonderful movie--I have a personal connection to this one. Frazier got his PhD here at the University of South Carolina and his thesis professor is a wonderful teacher whom I’ve come to know well and admire.
Second, and not by much, is White Doves at Morning by James Lee Burke. I’ve been a long time fan of Burke’s crime novels featuring his detective Dave Robicheaux. These are often rather mystical, but this novel of survival, love and hate amidst the war and reconstruction is very different and absolutely wonderful. The villains are delightfully colorful, and the battle scenes are unforgettable.
The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks is a terrible and satisfying novel based on a real woman and the battle of Franklin, Tennessee, in which 9200 men were killed in a matter of hours. Carrie McGavock’s home was taken over as a Union hospital, and the effect upon her led to a wonderful gift she gave to those who died there. It is a remarkable love story, but also tells about how this nation’s largest private cemetery came to be. I must visit this place.
And now I am reading Howard Bahr’s The Year of Jubilo. I cannot put down this story of post-war Mississippi whose characters are so vivid and idiosyncratic. Like in Cold Mountain this is the story of a man returning from the war hoping to reunite with a former love, but it is really quite different in tone and pacing. Reads like a thriller with interruptions for character and setting development.
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