The Widow of the South by Robert Hicks

Book suggested by Kim, meeting hosted by Barb.

This book portrays much of the true life story of its title character, Carrie McGavock, who lived near Franklin, Tennessee, during the Civil War. It is based on actual events and people, and as readers, we had to continually remind ourselves that this is an historical novel, and that not all the characters truly existed. That said, most of us liked the book and gave it good scores. We thought the writing was well done, particularly since it was the author's first book. The characters were interesting, though many of us needed cheat sheets early in the book as the characters seemed to be all introduced at once in the early chapters.

In discussing the book, we debated over the parentage of Theopolis, and did not all agree if he was John's son. We really liked Mariah, and talked about how she seemed to make the most of her limited choices in life. We questioned Mariah's psychic ability, but did not focus on it, and we briefly talked about the other characters. We liked Eli, found Becky's pregnancy predictable, thought the character development of John was weak, and discussed Mr. Baylor's apparent lack of morality.

But mostly we talked about Carrie. We agreed that she seemed to have a calling in life, and that she came alive when this wartime disaster gave her an opportunity to answer that calling. We couldn't understand her attitude toward her two surviving children, but then surmised that, due to her previous losses, she feared the risk of attachment. We had trouble understanding why Carrie gravitated so much toward Zachariah, and decided it must have been some need, maybe even lust, that was the attraction. His injuries forced him into being a captive audience for her. We could not understand AT ALL why Carrie brutally beat him, and thought that section of the book was really strange. It indicated that Carrie was unbalanced at best, and we wondered how her present-day descendants must feel about that scene in the book. Of course, none of us can imagine how we might react if we were subjected to similar horrific conditions.

We really liked the historical significance of this book, and were somewhat embarrassed to admit that we had never heard of the Battle of Franklin. Some of the gruesome details, like the staggering amount of deaths and the piles of amputated limbs were difficult to read about. But we appreciated the education that this book provided us and were glad that it brought out the true horrors of war, rather than romanticize it like so many Civil War novels do. Some of us prefer not to read this type of book as we find it depressing. One of us was unable to finish it, and some others thought that the book left too many questions unanswered.

But once again, most of us who would not have normally read this type of book were glad that we did read it, and appreciate how our Lit-Wits participation made that happen.

The official website for the Widow of the South: http://www.widowofthesouth.com/