The Widow of the South

The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks
First Printing: 2005 by Warner Books
Book Design by L&G McRee, Frontispiece map by Leo McRee

Fun Fact: This book smells like cat pee.
Another Fun Fact: I do not have a cat.

The only good thing about a sick day is getting to read with no interruptions. For my day home with a stomach bug, The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks was my constant companion.

 It's 1894, and Carrie McGavock is patrolling her graveyard. Thirty years previous, after the bloody Battle of Franklin, many soldiers were left to rot in the fields. When the neighbors wanted to plow over the bodies, she had them brought to her own plantation and erected a private cemetery on her property. On one of her daily strolls between the headstones, a man appears out of the mist. She recognizes him at once with his shambling gate and piercing green eyes. This is Zachariah Cashwell,  a man she helped nurse back to health- a man she had fallen in love with.

When The Battle of Franklin was fought in 1864, The McGavock's Carnton plantation was turned into a hospital for the wounded Confederate soldiers. At the time, Carrie was suffering from a deep depression after the loss of three of her young children. No one, not even her husband could coax her out of her despair. But when the war spilled into her home, she was forced to rise from her rocking chair to tend the wounded. That was when she met Zachariah, the man who was so ready to accept his imminent death. She makes the choice to save him whether he likes it or not, a choice that will bind them together forever.

Carrie McGavock and her husband John.

Final Rating: 4 out of 5
This book gave such a vivid telling of Carrie McGavock and Carnton plantation, it has me wanting to take a trip to Tennessee to visit the place in person. The book gave me the desire to learn more about this battle and the people involved, and you know I love a book that makes me want to learn more! Unfortunately, Robert Hicks did have to tweak some of the facts for this book, but it was for the sake of accommodating the fictional character of Zachariah into the lives of very real people. Other than that, I have no complaints with this book. Robert Hicks succeeded in bringing a relatively small part of the Civil War to the forefront, and he gave these people who are long gone a voice to tell their story.

Favorite Quote: "We were a new country, that was certainly true. A new country of old men and angry, stubborn men. There were moments when I could look out from our carriage and think that there wasn't anything this country couldn't become, which was not at all a comforting thought."- Carrie McGavock, page 302

The Widow of the South is available in both physical and digital copies from all major booksellers, including  Barnes and Noble and Amazon.