Carnton Plantation, 1894: Carrie McGavock is an old woman who tends the graves of the almost 1,500 soldiers buried there. As she walks among the dead, an elderly man appears–the same soldier she met that fateful day long ago. Today, he asks if the cemetery has room for one more.
Based on an extraordinary true story, this brilliant, meticulously researched novel flashes back to 1864 and the afternoon of the Civil War. While the fierce fighting rages on Carrie’s land, her plantation turns into a Confederate army hospital; four generals lie dead on her back porch; the pile of amputated limbs rises as tall as the smoke house. But when a wounded soldier named Zachariah Cashwell arrives at her house, he awakens feelings she had thought long dead–and inspires a passion as powerful and unforgettable as the war that consumes a nation.
There are few books that invoke an emotional or spiritual response. THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH is one of those books. Based on true events, THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH is a fictional representation on what might have inspired Carrie McGavock to bury over 1000 men in her family cemetery.
The book is told in different point of views, but the voices are all different that the reader doesn’t get lost. The characters are deep, and at times, difficult to fully understand. Much like normal people. The writing is similar to other Southern authors, it is poetic with hints of dark and humanity. It was one of those books that really made me feel and think beyond life today.
I can’t really express much on it, just that if you have a library card (which I assume you do), check out this book. It’s a historical fiction based on true events and does more than entertain. It truly makes you think and feel.
Casia's Corner 