I can’t wait to get one of the books on the list to read. Maybe I have missed something over the years, but I learned so much about the war that I never realized.Īlso, Michelle should add Varina to her already excellent list. The entire book was entirely unique in my opinion. The book also details how she survived the end of the war and her post-war life and relationship with Jeff Davis. Varina was Jefferson Davis’ wife and the story told is clearly her story but the insight into Jefferson Davis and the Civil War itself by a non-combatant and critic of it -Varina-is an important and different view of the war. He wrote the excellent “Varina” which I liked even better than Cold Mountain. You should continue your “read everything by a good author” journey by reading yet another Civil War book by the author of “Cold Mountain” – Charles Frazier. I'd like to give it a *** but I am adding a 1/2 for all the work Brooks put into research.Martha – I agree about both of those books and loved both of them. I think she wanted to create a flawed man, and she did do that, I guess, too flawed? I don't know. What I think is that Brooks felt that in order for the story to work, Papa March had to be a stubborn git - but I think there would have been other better and more convincing ways to develop his character. not compelling is what comes to mind? So carefully and thoroughly and conscientiously researched and written that light and life never fully enter in and overall I felt a little bludgeoned and truly never warmed up at all to March who, it seemed to me was suspiciously good at justifying his infatuation as being something other than what it was and came across also as being immature in his insistence of his failures. He sees and participates (as a passive observer) in horrible things and most of his efforts to help seem wasted, eventually he falls ill, Marmee comes to nurse him, he won't go home with her, then Beth gets sick, you all know the story if you've read (Which I am going to assume you have if you read this novel.) So this is all about what happens to March while he is away, a window into the war.

This is the back story about Papa March from, absent for that novel working as a chaplain and whatever is needed down in the war zone. Has been on my TBR shelf for far too long, but I wasn't looking forward to reading it as I have mixed feelings about other novels Brooks has written.

March by geraldine