Scarecrow
in Gray by Barry D. YeltonWar and Conflict
This month, the topic of our spotlight is War and Conflict, and yet as I compiled the list of books to be included, I realized that almost all of them included Love and Romance as well. Whether it is the longing of a man for his wife and family while far from his home and facing the horrors of war, or the trials of warfare which drive lovers apart--it seems that conflict and death turn our thoughts toward more life-giving emotions, and love is never far from a soldier's heart.
Scarecrow
in Gray by Barry D. Yelton
A peaceful hill country farmer from North Carolina, Francis Marion Yelton, is torn from his beloved family and thrust into the barbarity of America’s deadliest conflict: the War Between the States. Forced to become a soldier and fight a war in which he has no stake, Francis struggles to come to grips with his new role. Blood and battle threaten to transform Francis from a man of peace to a brutal warrior, and he struggles to hold on to his ideals. Wracked with doubt and guilt, tormented by the violent acts he has been forced to commit, Francis looks to his faith in God and to the memory of his devoted wife and loving children to sustain him through the dark night of war’s insensate butchery. Battle after battle, through hailstorms of lead and waves of cold steel, Francis fights to survive. Will he ever see home again?
Barry D. Yelton has been an avid student of the Civil War for fifteen years. He holds a degree in political science with a minor in history and English. Yelton, who lives in Rutherford County, North Carolina, is married and has three children and four grandchildren.
Reviews:
"The title of Barry Yelton's Scarecrow in Gray is derived from the impression of the condition of the Confederate soldiers as described by a new recruit, Francis Yelton, the author's great-grandfather. The book is a personal, emotional tale of the new private's adventures during the final year of the Civil War, in which the men were all so starved they looked like scarecrows." ~ POD Book Reviews and More
"There are no heroic martial deeds and adventures in “Scarecrow in Grey”; only the challenge of surviving a 19th century battlefield with some kind of honor and dignity as a human being. Private Yelton does have an interesting adventure with holding a Union General and his staff hostage… but all that he is after is some medical supplies. It is not one of those grand, sweeping panoramas of that war; it is a miniature on ivory, related in tiny and precise detail." ~ Blogger News Network
Visit the author's website for previews of Scarecrow in Gray, as well as other samples of his lyrical poetry and prose.
My Dear Phebe by Janet Elaine Smith
A war was coming! Ten-year-old Phebe Irvine was just plain scared. It was all anyone talked about. But war didn't really mean much to Phebe; it was something a long ways away from Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. The letters from her Uncle James, who lived near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, brought it much closer to home. And then her best friend, Sarah Tuttle, had to say goodbye to her father, who left to join the army. In MY DEAR PHEBE, children learn how war affects everyone, even if there were no battles nearby. Phebe learns how to deal with the fears, anxieties and pain caused by the war, as well as having personal problems in her own family. In the face of whatever terrors face today's youth, they will learn to cope with them by visiting another war, the Civil War, enabling them to better handle today's problems and threats. My Dear Phebe is based on the actual letters Phebe Irvine received from her Uncle James.
During her lifetime Janet Elaine Smith has been a missionary (who now writes romances), a wife (of one husband only), a mother (of three now-adult people, who refuse to be called "children"), a musician (of piano, organ and accordian), a Tupperware saleswoman (until the squirrels ate her sample kit), a teacher (of genealogy and creative writing), a translator (of Spanish, although she knows enough of a few other languages to get her in trouble), a social worker (in the strict sense of the word, not just being a "social creature"), a magazine writer (with over 2,000 published articles to her credit), a survivor (of the Great Flood of the Millennium in Grand Forks, ND in 1997), and that is just for starters.
Reviews:
"An enlightening and historical look at the turmoil of the Civil War. Included at the end are the actual letters between the real Phebe and soldiers in the war." ~ Armchair Interviews
"This fact-based YA novel looks at a much-described period in U.S. history from a little-used viewpoint, that of a young girl on the home front. It mixes and contrasts matter-of-fact daily life (which of course had to go on) with war's horrific events, and makes the reader feel the ebb and flow of Phebe's spirits right along with her." ~ author Nina M. Osier
Learn more about this novel and other works of this prolific writer at the author's website.
Shades of Gray by Jessica James
Shades of Gray chronicles the clash of a Confederate cavalry officer with a Union spy as they defend their beliefs, their country and their honor. Recounting a perspective of war rarely seen, this novel reveals the private side of the men and women who took part in the desperate conflict as they struggle with fulfilling their duty to God and country, while remaining true to their own hearts and minds. Though laced with historical detail, it is less about the clash of armies and arms against enemies, as it is about the clash of loyalty and love with honor and conviction.
Jessica James's background is in journalism, but she has been dabbling with writing fiction for the past 20 years. Shades of Gray is her debut novel and is being well received by Civil War historians, other authors, and romance lovers. As a resident of Gettysburg, Pa., she is surrounded by history, and frequent trips to Virginia keep her creative juices flowing.
Reviews:
"Re-enactors, historians, and followers of The War for Southern Independence will love this novel! It is fast moving and holds the reader's interest from cover to cover." ~ David Wright, past commander Dearing-Beauregard Camp 1813, Sons of Confederate Veterans
"Readers will find the
attention to historical detail impeccable and the characters are so strongly
drawn that the history does not eclipse the forward trajectory of the story."
~ Foreword Magazine
Awards:
Gold Medal for Best Regional Fiction in 2008 Independent Publisher Awards
Visit Jessica James at
her website learn more about this novel and to see a preview chapter.
Fixin'
Things by Peggy Ullman Bell
Megan Loren awoke to the sound of armies in her yard. Battle lines and love lines cross and counter cross to entangle passions and loyalties and strain family ties. Human strengths and human weaknesses break their conventional laces and stays to go on binges of rage and desire. Lovers and fighters alike will find ample fare to delight their reading palate in this no holds barred tale of womanly passions discovered and let loose at Gettysburg - the American Civil War at its awesome/gruesome best.
Originally from Gettysburg, Peggy Ullman Bell currently resides near the Jefferson Davis Memorial Library on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, with her husband of 47 years, but she lives in cyberspace.
Reviews:
"Writing with humor, candor and heart, she shows us a young woman's struggle and strength throughout the history altering summer of 1863. A finely honed story of humor and hope and the capacity of women to support one another." ~ Professor Justin Quantrill
"Peggy Bell's acute eye for detail takes us on an historical journey into the life of a family, devastated by the Battle of Gettysburg." ~ Barbara Holmes
Learn more about Peggy Bell, this novel, and the rest of her writing at the author's website.
Departure Message by Charles L. Lunsford
Departure Message chronicles the story of an Airborne Radio Operator--one of the very last of them, and the trials and tribulations of being stationed near Paris at the age of 20, and flying all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. This memior preserves for history the days when most airplanes could not fly without a crewmember to operate the complicated and bulky radios of the time, and the skill of the men who could communicate in International Morse code. Gone from the face of the earth, replaced by new technology, the flying radiomen are almost forgotten, along with the Air Force of the time, and the aircraft they flew.
In his youth, Charles Lunsford was one of the very last Morse code trained Airborne Radio Operators in the USAF just before that skill passed into the realm of ancient history. He wanted to chronicle that for history so he wrote "Departure Message," a memoir about being an enlisted aircrew member when the Cold War was not so cold and airplanes could not fly without a radio operator.
Reviews:
"We all have much to learn from history and Charles Lunsford has done a fantastic job of making some of that history come to life for us with his elaborate descriptions of countries that most of us will never have the honor of visiting and a way of life that we would otherwise have never known. So we must read and depend on gentleman like Mr. Lunsford to take us there in our hearts and senses." ~ BookPleasures.com
"Rarely have I encountered a book that has left me in dread of reaching the end. To escape within its pages to a more amiable world of droning engines and hit of Glenn Miller became a refuge few books are able to offer." ~ London Morning Paper
Read excerpts from this book and Charles Lunsford's other novel, Boxcar Down, on Authors Den.
Through Tempest Forged by Barbara Passaris
What happens when a family is enmeshed in the birth pangs of a newly emerging entity soon to be known as The United States? Will they succumb to the uncertainty of their time, or will they be resilient, indeed, triumphant? The year is 1775, and the world is on fire with the seeds of rebellion firmly taking root in America. Paul Rogers has everything that a man could possibly want: a beautiful wife, and wonderful family, and a prosperous farm in prestigious colonial Virginia. But his comfortable life is about to be interrupted by a tempest so fierce that the foundations of his life will be shaken to the bone.
Barbara Passaris is a wife and the mother of three daughters. She lives in the intermountain west of the United States. As an educator, she has long been involved in literacy education. She is the author of educational materials, short stories, and poetry.
Book Reviews:
"[T]he story of the Rogers family and how they cope with their changing world as they and their neighbors must choose between the crown and the patriot resistance ... Passaris portrays the rancor caused by these dueling loyalties, and the brutality that sometimes erupts, vividly and sometimes terrifyingly." ~ Susan Higginbotham, author The Traitor's Wife
"Passaris has wonderful skill in presenting scenes of domestic bliss and a strong attention to detail regarding the homes and fashions of the time, as well as consideration for the difference in perspectives about slavery as the novel progresses. The dialogue is wonderfully written, and gives the family a delightful depth and vivacity." ~ Historical Novel Society
Learn more about this author and her novel at the
author's website.
All
on Account of You by Elaine Luddy Klonicki
Angie Courtney is a spirited young woman realizing her dream. She is living in a girls' club in New York, studying fashion design. Bill Luddy, a boy she left behind in her hometown of Altoona, PA, is now stationed on a Navy ship docked on the Hudson Bay. They begin dating each other again in 1942 during his officers' training and he wins her heart through his daily love letters. All on Account of You is the true story of their courtship.
Elaine Luddy Klonicki is a freelance writer and a former columnist for The News and Observer in Raleigh, NC. She writes nonfiction books and articles, and creative nonfiction essays.
Book Reviews:
"It is a rich documentation of a most romantic time. I know because I was there. It was a time when every experience was heightened and shadowed by war." ~ Earl Hamner, producer of The Waltons
"Much of the story is told through the adoring love letters of Bill, a man I came to greatly admire during my reading, if for no other reason than he was a selfless man with unbridled devotion for those he loved. Had I not known that Bill wins her in the end, I would have considered him a long shot as the eventual victor of Angie's heart. Ultimately, I believe it was his letters - and the devotion behind them - that did it. Each of them is a treasure unto itself."~ Amazon Customer Review
Read more about this book and other works by Elaine Klonicki by visiting the author's website.
Genesee by Juliet Waldron
Her father was Iroquois, her mother a Dutch runaway--which world will welcome Genesee van Cortlandt? The love of a bright young soldier pulls Jenny toward the world of her mother, but the brutal frontier war of the American Revolution may demand that she put him -- and love -- away forever.
By the time Juliet Waldron was twenty-one, she had lived in twenty-one places, including Cornwall, England and Barbados in the West Indies, where she attended school. A lifelong passion for history led to twelve novels. "Mozart's Wife" was a 2000 Frankfurt nominee. At the 2001 Virginia Festival of the Book, "Mozart's Wife" won the First Independent eBook Award. "Genesee," set during the Revolutionary War in upstate New York, is based upon family history.
Book Reviews:
"Even though they have many differences, Genesee and Alexander are true kindred spirits. Ms. Waldron keeps you enthralled by, a little at a time, giving tantalizing tidbits of their origins." ~ The Romance Studio
"This is a novel that deserves wide attention as it commemorates the past and celebrates the universal love that truly creates and evolves into a new generation of united Americans and native Americans." ~ Crystal Reviews
Awards:
2003 Eppie Award in Historicals
Read an excerpt from this book or visit the author's website for more information.
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