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.

An Introduction with Lydia Bailey

Lydia Bailey by Kenneth Roberts
First Printing: 1947 by Doubleday

First of all, I just wanted to say hello to everybody! Well, "everybody" is probably just me at this point, but you get the idea. Books make up a gigantic part of my life, and I wanted to create a place where I could freely talk about them. This seems like a perfect venue, so let's get started!

I went on a "blind date" with this book, or in other words, the copy I purchased had no book jacket or synopsis. When I took it home and looked it up, I have to admit that I was disappointed to find out that it was a historical romance. Romance isn't a genre I reach for often. But I'm not one to give away a book that I haven't given a chance.

The story opens in the year 1800 on the protagonist, Albion Hamlin. Albion agreed to go before the court and act as lawyer for Mr. Bailey, a man on trial for speaking out against the government for violating free speech. At his client's home, he encounters a simple portrait of a girl with raven locks and a knowing smile.

"To me there was something heartbreakingly gay about the almost smiling lips and the sidelong glance of the girl in the picture- something intimate and personal that caught so unexpectedly at my throat that when I tried to ask, "Who's that?" I had to cough and try again."

 That girl's name was Lydia. Albion is entranced by her from the moment he sets eyes on her likeness. When he and his client are jailed after a whirlwind trial, he attempts a daring escape to find her. His search leads him to the island of Haiti, where Lydia has gone to be a governess for a wealthy french family. In his travels he finds a friend in a native man called King Dick, who takes Albion under his wing. Together they start the journey to rescue Lydia; a journey that will lead them through the heart of the Haitian Revolution and all the way to the African coast.

 History was definitely the more dominant theme in this historical romance. I learned so much about the country of Haiti in this book; about its peoples' struggle to free themselves from French slavery. I learned about Tripoli and its fight to liberate itself from a tyrannical ruler. But more than that, I learned about The United States and its habit of taking away other peoples' liberty to preserve its own. Our government's behavior in both of these countries was shameful. We turned away from people yearning for the same freedom we enjoy here.

The Final Rating: 5/5
I am so happy that I took the time to read this book, it opened my eyes to a time in our history that I may have otherwise missed. Kenneth Roberts' rich descriptions of Haiti and Tripoli still come to my mind today. I find myself missing Albion, Lydia, and King Dick. Their fight for freedom for all people was such an inspiration to me. I have no complaints about this book, it has earned a permanent place on my shelf.

Favorite Quote:
"I raged at the idiocy of pleading for tolerance when actually the world has always needed intolerance: intolerance of mediocrity, of cruelty, of laziness and stupidity and clumsiness, of knavery and tricky, intolerance of ignorance, of gluttony, of waste. I thought of the intellectual slavery in which so many men live, governed by nincompoops; of the irony that so many black men, considered only fit for slavery, should be so much more emancipated than any white men; of the hypocrites who prate about the desirability of equality when really equality is impossible for any human beings anywhere."

Who was she?

Lydia Bailey is currently out of print, but it is available for Nook and Kindle readers. A physical copy will have to be obtained through a used bookseller.