Author’s Comments

Writing narrative is easy. It flows along like a river. Writing dialogue is more challenging. It requires knowing your characters intimately, how they think, and what they care about. The visuals of the settings and the story action attract the mind, but in the end, the characters capture the heart. It is more accurate to say that my characters revealed themselves to me, rather than that I created them. They often surprised me and I learned important things from them. For its writer, a book can be a catharsis, with teaching moments that test the truths and falsehoods of his beliefs. Hopefully, this will inform the reader in this same manner.

The storyline is centered around 1865. Some historical events were described with detail to build drama. Others were merely alluded to in passing since they would be familiar to readers. The story portrays the power of friendship in deeply troubled times. It is a blend of political, military and social histories and uses fictional characters to tell the story, with historical figures to provide the backdrop.

I visited Andersonville in 1987 and never forgot the sadness I felt there. The village and prison camp are an historic site. At present, the long rows of graves are arranged neatly and marked with aged alabaster stones spread across a beautiful green field for visitors to reflect upon. Many have names with dates of birth. The dates of their deaths were all within a year of each other.

The village and site are near Oglethorpe, Americus and Plains - the home of former President Jimmy Carter. His home is a modest ranch house and the old railroad station is a museum for his early campaigning. The area is rural, very poor and desolate. It leaves a northerner with a feeling of what the old South must have been like after the Civil War.

There were three groups of people affected by the Civil War and reconstruction in the South. Like my character, David Wexley, I too have inexplicable feelings about the South; an inexplicable attraction that is appealing, melancholy and conflictive. Part of it is my Scots-Irish heritage and its manifestations in the poor whites of the South. Part of it is my bond with, and love for, my friend Abraham and his strength of character and great heart. Most of it is the lessons of humanity and inhumanity so vividly taught there.

I wanted to write about the old verities. I chose the context I understand best to illustrate them. This historical fictional work has depicted our American tragedy, during the most powerful period of our history, surmounting our greatest challenge, with triumph over horrific circumstances affecting the lives of all our American people. In the end, the book is about hope. All of life comes to that conclusion and finality.