The Widow of the South

Based on a true story, this debut Civil War novel follows a Southern plantation woman's journey of transforming her home into a hospital for the war.

Carnton Plantation, 1894. Carrie McGavock is an old woman who tends the graves of the almost one,500 soldiers buried here. 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 Battle of Franklin, five of the bloodiest hours 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.

“Engrossing . . . compelling.” —Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Tender and moving . . . perhaps the best Civil War novel since Cold Mountain . . . a compelling, touching, powerful, and ultimately unforgettable story.” —The Providence Journal

“Wonderfully imagined and beautifully written. Robert Hicks not only immerses us in history but also in age-old human truths that are the grist of lasting literature. One of the finest books I’ve read in years.” —James Webb, New York Times–bestselling author