Coming of Age at the Coming of War
Dennis O’ Brien staggers through a landscape of war that has literally come to his own back yard on the fields of Shiloh, Tennessee, April 6, 1862. Trying to make sense of what led to this carnage, he falls inexorably into tumultuous reflection of the experiences of his young life. Dennis is the middle son of an Irish immigrant who is a tormented veteran of the Mexican-American War. He feels primarily responsible for the care of his family and mentally ill father on a tiny farm set precariously on the bank of the Tennessee River. Conflicted about religion, slavery, and a love for the South, he longs for a bright spot in his life. He encounters that light in Jane at a spring below their one room school house, but uncontrollable conditions interfere. Catastrophic forces of nature against the backdrop of war fever catapult Dennis into a world beyond the farm and Jane. When compelled to take his father to an asylum in New Orleans, astonishing causes of his father’s illness are revealed. A stop in Memphis introduces him to the most loathsome aspects of the slave trade and brand him with a hatred of bondage. Simultaneously, Dennis forges relationships with notable persons of his time, yet it is a free black preacher who influences him to become a conductor on the Underground Railroad. A looming decision has to be resolved. Can a son of the south hate slavery and still fight for the Southland he loves?
