Wednesday, May 25, 2011

36. Year of Disunion

By:  Blythe Forcey Toussant
Rated:  Still reading
From:  Gayla
Format:  Book

From Back of Book:

On the morning of July 21, 1861 several hundred civilians set out to Centerville, picnics packed, to watch the Battle of Bull Run.  Year od Disunion is a novel who explores who these people were and what their experience must have been.  The story opens in Vermont as two very different sisters, Lettie and Roxana, reunited after years spent apart.  Changes caused by the war take them to Washington and an invitation to watch the battle, along with their five young children.  Things do not go well for the spectators.  Visions of champagne toasts to celebrate  a glorious easy victory are shattered as inglorious retreat drives the civilians from the field along with the soldiers.

After the battle, Lettie is pursued by her abusive husband and Roxana travels south to find her husband, chaplain to the 2nd Vermont, who has been captured and made a prisoner of war.  Events lead the characters into wartime Washington D. C.; Raleigh, N.C; Cairo, IL; and the North Carolina Outer Banks as they respond to "disunion" the war brings to their lives throughout the remainder of 1861.