In 1861 Frank “Shanks” Russell wishes he was old enough to fight for the South alongside his pa and big brother. But Frank is too young, skinny, and weak, and is left behind with his mother and grandparents. Life in Mississippi was simple before the war between North and South. Now Frank’s boyhood is gone forever, along with his dreams of heroic battles. The shortages and horrors of war reach his home as he scrounges for food and water, and sees both Confederate and enemy soldiers at their worst. As time goes by and Frank’s friendship with Buck, the family slave, grows, he questions more and more who is the enemy and why the terrible war is being fought.
Margaret McMullan is the author of six award-winning novels including Sources of Light, In My Mother's House, Cashay, When I Crossed No-Bob, and How I Found the Strong. Margaret writes mostly fiction for both adults and young adults, and she is especially interested in how historical events affect ordinary people. Her essays and short stories have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, Southern Accents, TriQuarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, The Greensboro Review, Mississippi Magazine, Other Voices, Boulevard, Ploughshares, and The Sun among others.
A recipient of a 2010 NEA Fellowship in literature and a 2010 Fulbright to teach at the University of Pécs in Pécs, Hungary, Margaret is currently a professor of English at the University of Evansville, in Evansville, Indiana. Visit her website at: www.margaretmcmullan.com
