By the author of the notable nonfiction trilogy The Civil War in North Carolina
—which Charles Frazier acknowledged as source material for Cold Mountain—this all-encompassing roman à clef unfolds as a quixotic, skirmish-by-skirmish account of the early battles of the Civil War along North Carolina's labyrinthine coast, stretching from Elizabeth City, south of Norfolk, Va., to Fort Caswell on the Atlantic banks, opposite Fort Fisher at the mouth of the Cape Fear River south of Wilmington. Opening on New Year's Eve 1860, almost six months before North Carolina's grudging decision to secede from the Union on May 20, 1861, this sprawling account revolves around the bustling seaport of Wilmington, which serves as the lifeline of the Confederacy. The future North Carolina governor, Zebulon Vance; the president of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis; the architect of Fort Fisher, Col. William Lamb; Lafayette Baker, deputy director of the fledgling Secret Service; Gen. Robert E. Lee; Gen. Ambrose Burnside; and the naval commander William Barker Cushing are some of the real-life historic figures that are artfully integrated with an extensive dramatis personae of flamboyant and idiosyncratic fictional characters including Belle O'Neal, a sensuous rebel spy; Cyrus Bone, a Confederate deserter; and Largo Landau, the daughter of a Wilmington merchant who becomes a patron of the poor. This masterful epic offers insight into the perfidious political agendas and personal greed underlying the bumbling and horrors suffered by both sides during the war. As it concludes in July 1863, portending the fall of Fort Fisher some two years later, a sequel seems likely. National advertising; author tour. (May 24)
Forecast:An impressive novel from a distinguished scholar/author, this title will appeal to the countless fans of
Cold Mountain as well as to the Civil War buffs who normally stick to nonfiction.
