Barbara H. (uphillbattle) reviewed on + 5 more book reviews
This book is an soul-searching study of humanity during the Civil War.
Inman is a Southern soldier left to die in a field hospital- who decides that he wants to live and not be cannon-fodder for a cause he doesn't understand. He escapes from the hospital and begins a long walk home- hiding from both the South and North soldiers. The people he meets are both helped by him and help him in turn. Some of the interactions are heartwrenching, some humorous. The whole time he's walking, he's thinking of home, and a girl he met just before leaving for battle...
From being a comfortably-kept, lovely daughter of a preacher, Ada is moved from her genteel home on the east coast to a small farm community for the sake of her father's health. After a brief reprieve from his illness and coming to terms with the rural environment, Ada is suddenly left on her own when her father dies. Unable to cook or fend for herself, and now in the dire straits of the war, she fights a losing battle with her own hunger and ineptitude. Beaten by a rooster, hungry and totally lost as to what to do, she is met on her own porch by Ruby... another hungry soul- but one who knows how to make do with every opportunity.
Between the two of them, the women strike up a relationship for survival that turns into a deep friendship.
The story winds through the lives of the people surviving through the ravages of the final days of the Civil War, as Inman and Ada dream of their earlier lives in a more abundant, gentle time, and as their own paths draw together again.
The story is engrossing, poignant, and has a sort of justice to it, with a bittersweet ending.
(The movie, while good,and well-acted, does not do the book adequate justice.)
Inman is a Southern soldier left to die in a field hospital- who decides that he wants to live and not be cannon-fodder for a cause he doesn't understand. He escapes from the hospital and begins a long walk home- hiding from both the South and North soldiers. The people he meets are both helped by him and help him in turn. Some of the interactions are heartwrenching, some humorous. The whole time he's walking, he's thinking of home, and a girl he met just before leaving for battle...
From being a comfortably-kept, lovely daughter of a preacher, Ada is moved from her genteel home on the east coast to a small farm community for the sake of her father's health. After a brief reprieve from his illness and coming to terms with the rural environment, Ada is suddenly left on her own when her father dies. Unable to cook or fend for herself, and now in the dire straits of the war, she fights a losing battle with her own hunger and ineptitude. Beaten by a rooster, hungry and totally lost as to what to do, she is met on her own porch by Ruby... another hungry soul- but one who knows how to make do with every opportunity.
Between the two of them, the women strike up a relationship for survival that turns into a deep friendship.
The story winds through the lives of the people surviving through the ravages of the final days of the Civil War, as Inman and Ada dream of their earlier lives in a more abundant, gentle time, and as their own paths draw together again.
The story is engrossing, poignant, and has a sort of justice to it, with a bittersweet ending.
(The movie, while good,and well-acted, does not do the book adequate justice.)
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