This historical fiction by North Carolina Appalachian Civil War descendant Sharyn McCrumb combines glimpses of ghostly raiders with present day re-enacters, 19th century mountain folk divided between union and confederacy with contemporary retirees.
She fleshes out the true story of Malinda and Keith Blalock. Malinda dressed as a boy and went with her husband to enlist in the confederate army, though their sympathies were with neither side. After Keith got himself sent home with self- inflicted poison ivy rash, he joined the union army as a scout and she again went with him. We see the atrocities inflicted by neighbor on neighbor through their eyes.
Also McCrumb brings to life the career of Zebulon Vance, a charismatic senator, general and governor, the Appalachian Abe Lincoln.
It becomes clear that the cruelty and suffering of civil war was experienced in our country no differently than in the Balkans, Africa or the Middle East in this century.
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