49 of 53 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Meandering Look at the Battle of Franklin, October 2, 2005
This novel's premise intrigued me because I live close to Franklin, Tennessee, and have learned a good deal about the Battle of Franklin in recent years. McGavock is a well-known name around Nashville, which added to my interest. I eagerly picked this book up and dived in, prepared to meet the main characters and learn more about the battle and its aftermath, and previous reviews made the book that much more appealing. However, as I read, I found myself disappointed in the actual retelling of the battle itself; I was hoping for more action and deeper characterizations. The plot meanders between points of view and Carrie McGavock's motivations are particularly difficult to understand. On a personal level, I could delve into her darkness of depression over the loss of her children, but since it was a common occurrence in the mid 1800s, I found it a bit over-the-top. Her feelings for Zachariah are not in character and are never believable. Mariah is a strong character who never achieves her own voice and a few of the side stories seem forced as well. The novel finally achieves its goals in the last 100 pages as the focus for Carrie becomes clear and her determination shows. Hicks has a wonderful way with words but he needs to show the why of his characters rather than letting them stew in their own juices for much of the story. Overall this is a good book, but not as compelling as I'd hoped.
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18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Carrie McGavock, August 30, 2005
The `Widow of the South' will bring Carrie McGavock's story to people who have never heard of this remarkable person. As a young, high spirited woman, she sat for a portrait wearing black, certainly not the done thing at the time. Ironically, black becomes the color of her life. She knows firsthand the loss of three beloved children and treats all the dead boys from the battle that raged outside her home as if they were her own.
One of the most touching parts of the book is the true story about a Georgia family who traveled to Tennessee to bring their dead son home from Carrie's cemetery. After seeing how she lovingly cared for him, they decided to leave him in Tennessee returning only to bring Georgia dirt from their farm for his resting place.
One read of this book is not enough.
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99 of 121 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great History; Poor Plot, August 31, 2005
It is November 30th, 1864, and Carrie McGavick's Franklin, Tennessee plantation home is in a terrible spot. The Confederates and Unionists are about to have a major battle engagement only a mile from Mrs. McGavick's house, and Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest has commandeered her home as a field hospital.
Mrs. McGavick - later to become known as THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH - is in mourning over the death of three of her children during a typhoid epidemic. And she spends most of her time in bed letting Mariah, a Creole slave, run the household. But the days of mourning her children come to an abrupt end as she must come to grips with the death of 9,000 soldiers in a single day, and care for the wounded whom blanket every square inch of her floors.
One of the injured is a tough and vocal man named Zachariah Cashwell, a Confederate nobody. During the day's bloodshed, Mr. Cashwell did an incredibly brave, heroic, stupid, and suicidal thing: After the color-bearer is killed, he picks up the flag and marches toward the enemy as they shoot at him. But he doesn't receive a scratch. Only after being captured and attempting to escape is he given a near mortal wound from a gunshot. Then he's taken to Mrs. McGavick's field hospital to recover or die. Here the two (McGavick and Cashwell) meet and clash ...and eventually fall in love, even after Mr. Cashwell's leg is amputated. Even though Carrie McGavick is married.
What follows is a denying of love, a race to save the graves of those who are buried outside of the McGavick home, and a woman who discovers her purpose in life: to honor the memory of those "boys" who died that day.
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This is Mr. Hicks' first novel and, luckily, he's chosen to write a historical fiction story. He must have poured over tons of information and had great difficulty deciding what to place in the book and what not to. Thankfully, he's chosen to write about the actual battle. And his prose during these scenes is topnotch; he can describe bloodshed and waste and near insanity and giving up and hanging on, in one graceful paragraph.
Where Mr. Hicks has fallen down is plotting. Although this story sheds light on a little known Civil War battle that incurred horrendous losses, it didn't seem to have a point. The love story between Mr. Cashwell and Mrs. McGavick (which takes up a large portion of the book) is never explored or explained. Why did they fall in love in the first place? We don't know.
The story seemed to meander between the battle, the hospital, Mrs. McGavick, Mr. Cashwell, General Forrest, and two other lovers whom we only see fleetingly. I mean, I felt kind of lost, as if I were wondering around a story with no aid from the author.
But even so, this book will likely be held in high regard by historical enthusiasts as more light is shed upon THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH.
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