Outskirts Press, INC.

“North and South, we all have a lot to answer for.” “At the heart of this moving novel is the exploration of a remarkable emotional possibility: developing empathy for another who was formerly reviled. This is a stunning literary feat – intelligently composed and historically rigorous, the book leaves the reader haunted by the heights and depths of human nature. An enthralling work that captures the moral murkiness of war.” —KIRKUS REVIEWS “Mary Frailey Calland masterfully transports us back to the Elmira of the Civil War era. She provides great insight through the lives of unforgettable characters. A powerful work of historical fiction.” —MARTIN D. CHALK, President of the Friends of the Elmira Civil War Prison Camp

Mary Frailey Calland masterfully transports us back to the Elmira of the Civil War era. She provides great insight through the lives of unforgettable characters. A powerful work of historical fiction.
—MARTIN D. CHALK, President of the Friends of the Elmira Civil War Prison Camp

Fifteen years after the end of the American Civil War, a North Carolina widow travels to Elmira, New York, the site of an infamous Confederate prisoner of war camp, to confront the woman who may know the meaning of an engraved ring found in the pocket of her deceased husband’s Rebel uniform. The answer emerges through fictionalized first person accounts from a Rebel prisoner, a Union guard, a crusading Elmira Female College student, and John W. Jones, the actual fugitive slave and Underground Railroad conductor ironically tasked with overseeing the burials of the nearly 3000 Confederate soldiers who died at the camp. Their diverse voices provide an intimate look into the build-up and conduct of the war from the passionate perspectives of those who fought for either side, those left to wait at home, and those whose very freedom depended on the war’s outcome. Their deeply held beliefs and loyalties are challenged when their fates converge in the harsh shadow of the Elmira prison camp, a place where suffering blurs the line between enemy and friend, and where empathy can turn to love.