The Widow of the South
Aug 7, 2005
The Widow of the South is Robert Hicks' first novel. This book hasn't been released to the public yet, I was lucky enough to get my hands on a galley copy.
This is the story of the Civil War battle that was fought in and around Franklin, Tennessee. It's reported to be the bloodiest battle of the war, with well over 9,000 casualties.
I will tell you right off, this is not a happy novel. There's barely even a glimmer of joy in this book. It is very well written and extremely informative about this portion of the war, but if you're looking for a light read, this is not a book for you. I had to force myself in the first chapters to keep going, but once I got to know the characters I easily continued on.
The book is centered around the fictional plantation, Carnton. The main character is Carrie McGavock. She is the Mistress of Carnton. When you first meet her, she is in her later years, walking through a huge graveyard with her servant Mariah. She is carrying her Book of the Dead and checking the graves for upkeep. She's been wearing only black for about 40 years. She's known as the Widow of the South because she just happens to have approximately 1,500 Civil War soldiers buried in her backyard.
The book then goes backwards into time where you meet several of the soldiers, on both sides, and Carrie herself the night before the actual battle in Franklin begins.
Carrie has already been in mourning and seclusion for several years, since 3 of her 5 children died. She is a recluse and associates with no one. Her slave, at this period in the book, Mariah, runs the house.
Their world is turned upside down when a Confederate General turns up at the door and announces that the plantation is in the middle of what is about to become a huge battle, and they have been recruited to be the hospital. Carrie has been in an extremely fragile state of mind and not at all prepared for this.
The main telling of this book is Carrie's rebuilding of strength, both mentally and physically, as she has to come to terms with the fact that there are now severely injured men under her care. Her plantation becomes a hospital with a huge stack of limbs being tossed outside the window by the doctors, dead men lying with the injured, lack of supplies and general chaos, noise, blood and agony all around her once quiet and secluded life.
She meets a Confederate soldier among the injured that she is inexplicably attracted to, Zachariah Cashwell, and they flit in and out of each other's lives throughout the book.
The crux of the story is when she finds that the field where all the "leftover" soldiers, who were not taken home for burial, is to be plowed under for corn. At the time it is assumed the bodies will be left there under the corn. She will not allow this degradation and starts a personal quest to let these dead men be buried with love, compassion and honor.
Thus, she becomes the Widow of the South.
The book has exceptional detail about the actual battle and it's aftermath. It shows how people might have acted during these times of stress and deprivation.
It is a good book. But it is not a light book.
**Time Warner Books, Publication to be August 2005**
