Delirium of the Brave [Mass Market Paperback]

Dr. William C. Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 14, 2001

Savannah, 1864. Confederate Captain Patrick Driscoll and his dear friend and manservant Shadrack "Shad" Bryan leave their tearful families to help fight for the Southern cause. They are to set up fort at Raccoon Island off Georgia's coast in a last-ditch effort to save their beloved city from Union attack. But only days into their assignment, the two men die in each other's arms in a Yankee bombardment. Though the men are gone, their legacy will live on-as will the legend of the priceless Driscoll family treasure the two men have buried on Raccoon Island.

Four generations after the Civil War, many Confederate families still remain in Savannah, struggling through the twentieth-century in a South rife with hardball politics, personal vendettas and the hangover of war.

John-Morgan Hartman, son of a newspaper man and great-great grandson of Captain Patrick Driscoll, goes to serve his country in Vietnam, unaware of the physical and psychological wounds that will befall him...

Tony O'Boyle is an ambitious young politician who will stop at nothing and spare no one to get ahead-but his family's dark past will come back to haunt him...

Lloyd Bryan, descended from slaves, is determined to succeed where his ancestors didn't. But his celebrity as a professional football player immerses him in a world of temptation that ultimately turns him toward religion...

Charlotte Drayton, a successful television reporter, has always used her beauty to get her way-but the one man she can't have is the only one she wants...

After many years, four friends will meet on the very island where the two confederate soldiers died in each other's arms. To find where they buried Driscoll's treasure-and to uncover the dangerous secrets of a prominent Savannah family.

A gripping novel of history, intrigue, war, and love, Delirium of the Brave follows four generations of families contemplating the pain of the past and the promise of the future. Get swept away by this glorious saga rich with the sights, sounds, flavors, and people of the South's most stunning locale.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The success of this gossipy but somewhat overwritten debut novel by a 51-year-old Savannah, Ga., podiatrist resulted from local media buzz rather than stellar literary qualities. Originally published by the small Savannah publisher Frederic C. Beil, the novel was a word-of-mouth sleeper, eventually replacing John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil on regional bestseller lists (Book News, May 17). In an auction, St. Martin's acquired world rights in what was reported (Hot Deals, July 5) to be a six-figure, two-book deal. The ambitious, well-researched roman ? clef begins during the Civil War and moves into the present day, building on a legend about buried treasure on tiny Raccoon Island (one of the barrier islands that dot the coastal waterways around Savannah). The plot centers on the progeny of a young Confederate officer, Patrick Driscoll, and his devoted slave companion, Shadrack Bryan, who bury a chest of valuables to keep it from Yankee looters. Both men are killed, taking their secret to the grave. Skimming across generations, the plot leapfrogs into the late 1930s, when hot-tempered young reporter John Morgan Hartman marries into the Driscoll family. It is Hartman's son John-Morgan and John-Morgan's contemporary, Father Lloyd Bryan, who become the novel's protagonists, their destinies mixed with that of a powerful and corrupt Savannah family headed by politico Tony O'Boyle. A mythic wild boar, a serial killer, an unsolved fratricide, blackmail, sex, sleazy politics and a Hemingwayesque recovery from war-related impotence move the narrative along. While Harris lacks the storytelling gifts that have distinguished many a Southern yarn, he is skilled at plot control. Something of a diamond in the rough, the novel has enough whispered scandal about prominent families to keep reading lamps burning late in the South; whether it can develop national appeal remains to be seen. Agent, Nancy Stauffer. $100,000 ad/promo; author tour. (Nov.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Having barely recovered from John Berendt's gossipy Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (LJ 1/94), Savannah gentry are now dealt another literary blow with Harris's first novel, a regional best seller originally published by a small Georgia press. The difference: while Midnight concerns one Savannah murder, Delirium takes on most of that city's Irish Catholic aristocracy. In 1864, as Savannah awaits the pending invasion of Sherman's army, Confederate captain Patrick Driscoll and his slave Ezekiel Bryan bury the Driscoll family fortune on Raccoon Island. They are killed in battle before telling anyone where the treasure is hidden. Four generations of Driscoll descendants and most of Savannah search for the legendary fortune before it is finally found. Harris ably details that search, but, more importantly, he relates the story of the Driscoll and Bryan families and their conflict with the politically powerful O'Boyles. Intricately intertwined are tales of high school love gone wrong, a serial murderer who terrorizes the city, war, political intrigue, and corruption of power. Harris is a masterly storyteller, and his novel is made more compelling by its being based on truth. Midnight fans will clamor for this one. Highly recommended.AThomas L. Kilpatrick, Southern Illinois Univ. Lib., Carbondale
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks; 1st edition (October 14, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312977131
• ISBN-13: 978-0312977139
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (43 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,118,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I read all the "Oprah" books and this one should be on it, January 16, 2000

By 

Cindy T. Carney (Marlboro, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Delirium of the Brave (Hardcover)

For anyone who reads the dramatic, compelling books on Oprah's lists, please read this one. It completely takes you in to Savannah during the Civil War, then the 1950's, 1960's, Vietnam War, etc. Though it's somewhat historical, you get to MEET the regular people and see how they lived according to the times they were in. There's so many stories and life situations that keep you intrigued. Looking foward to his second book.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delirium of the Brave, January 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Delirium of the Brave (Hardcover)

One has to become more than casually involved with Savannah to appreciate the multi-dimensional portrait the author draws of this historic southern city. One can only speculate how much of the separate directions traveled by this novel are, indeed, based on fact, although probably no good purpose is served by attempts to guess which of Savannah's first families might be involved. Savannah hides its secrets well, but lurking in the shadows there is a deep, dark side about which it is fascinating to speculate. "Delerium" does an admirable job in the glimpses it evokes of people and things past, and critically integrates them in a complex, logically coherent plot which in no small way helps helps one appreciate and understand the present. What starts out as a mystery, pure and simple, turns into a compelling portrait of human emotions and depravity. The broad brush of his generational approach, not always kindly or non-critically applied, helps document the development of present-day social institutions, described autobiographically by one who has "been there, done that." For anyone with an interest in the "real" Savannah or just wanting a riveting, page-turning read, "Delerium" delivers!

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Delirium" is a Delight...., January 30, 2000

By 

"christineincalifornia" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Delirium of the Brave (Hardcover)

This has to be one of the best books I have read in long while. With its abundance of intrigue, passion, and murder, it's quite a page-turner; yet it sweeps you into a place so rich and full of flavor that you truly feel that you are there, smelling the magnolias and feeling the textures of the atmosphere that must be exclusively Savannah's. I was particularly enthralled and delighted by the multi-generational aspects of the story, and how the characters were connected throughout the years through a variety of actions, some good, some evil. I am impressed with Dr. Harris' ability to weave so much history into a novel that is easily read in just one day. His writing has a simplicity and an honesty that I found very refreshing. I can't wait to visit Savannah and experience it for myself!