by Unknown (Author)
'White doves come at morning Where my soldier sleeps in the ground. I placed my ring in his coffin, The trees o'er his grave have all turned brown.' Set mainly in Louisiana during the years 1861-1868, this passionate novel of men, women and war tells the story of the author's ancestor, Confederate soldier Willie Burke. A classic Burke hero, innately moral to the point of lunacy, Willie is soon in conflict with his superiors. As his best friend Jim Stubblefield observes: 'the juncture of Willie Burke and the Confederate Army is akin to the meeting of a wrecking ball and a crystal shop.' The characters who people these pages, many of them based on real historical figures, are as memorable as any Burke has created. Mulatto, Flower Jamison, victim of terrible abuse that never touches her soul, determined to better herself; Quaker abolitionist Abigail Dowling, whose Unionist sympathies put her in constant danger; Colonel Ira Jamison, rotten to his core yet who would rise from a cesspit smelling of roses; these and many others stay powerfully in the mind in this epic tale.Like all the best war novels, WHITE DOVES AT MORNING concentrates not on battles but on the edges of grand events, the detritus that wars create, the human cost, and, in this case, the terrible aftermath.
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Orion
Published:
ISBN 10: 0752856510
ISBN 13: 9780752856513
Book Overview: Author of the acclaimed and bestselling novels featuring Cajun Detective Dave Robicheaux Winner of the two most prestigious awards for crime fiction: Burke has won the CWA Gold Dagger and the Edgar Award twice The American Civil War was a cataclysmic conflict that caused appalling human suffering: its repercussions were felt for 100 years and still live powerfully in our imaginations Historical fiction is enjoying a renaissance in popularity, especially at the quality end of the market This is James Lee Burke's first historical novel James Lee Burke's sales on an upward curve in trade and paperback JOLIE BLON'S BOUNCE is nominated for the CWA Gold Dagger