Horse by Geraldine Brooks

 

First Lines: No. Nup. That wouldn't do. It reeked of PhD. This was meant to be read by normal people.

 

Horse is based on the true story of the record-breaking Thoroughbred, Lexington.

 

Kentucky, 1850. An enslaved groom named Jarret and a bay Thoroughbred foal form a bond that will determine the course of both their lives. When the Civil War breaks out, the painter who made his name by his paintings of this racehorse joins the Union army only to reunite with the stallion and groom on a perilous night far from any racetrack.

 

New York City, 1954. Gallery owner Martha Jackson becomes obsessed with a nineteenth-century painting that has a murky provenance.

 

Washington, DC, 2019.  Jess, a Smithsonian scientist from Australia, and Theo, a Nigerian-American art historian find themselves connected through their shared interest in the horse-- one studying the stallion's bones for clues to his power and endurance, the other uncovering the unsung history of the Black horsemen who were critical to the horse's racing success.

~

Geraldine Brooks has done it again: written a transcendent book that is so much more than the sum of its parts. Brooks is a must-read author for me, but Horse was made even more special by my teenage racehorse madness years. I read every book I could get my hands on about Thoroughbred racing and its stars. My mother indulged my obsession: when she went to Kentucky on a genealogy trip, I got to overdose on racehorses, meeting greats like Citation and actually seeing the grave of Lexington, the horse that Brooks centered her book upon.

In Brooks' Afterword, she says, "As I began to research Lexington's life, it became clear to me that this novel could not merely be about a racehorse, it would also need to be about race," and she does this in masterful fashion. Whether it's watching the years pass and Lexington's groom being known as one owner's Jarret after another to-- finally-- having his own name untainted by slavery (Jarret Lewis) or watching the unfolding relationship between the interracial couple Jess and Theo in 2019 and the differences in their experiences and outlooks on the world, the reader becomes totally engaged in the characters' lives. 

Horse is so much more than a fascinating animal story. It is also a powerful story of art, science, and-- above all-- race. It is a story to take in deep. It is a story to remember.

Horse by Geraldine Brooks

eISBN: 9780399562983

Viking © 2022

eBook, 401 pages

 

Fiction, Standalone

Rating: A+

Source: Purchased from Amazon.

Anything But Civil by Anna Loan-Wilsey

First Line: "Is he dead?"

Traveling secretary Hattie Davish is pleased to be in Galena, Illinois, and back working for her wealthy employer, Sir Arthur Windom-Greene. Hattie is helping Sir Arthur with his definitive biography of Civil War General Cornelius Starrett. What shocks the pair is the fact that even though forty years have passed, old wounds from that terrible conflict are still very raw. But Hattie has her hands full helping Sir Arthur with his book and getting the house ready for Christmas. She's never been in charge of Christmas preparations, so she's very excited and anxious to do the best job possible. She may not have much time to deck the halls; however, when General Starrett's belligerent son Henry is murdered and one of the main suspects is Sir Arthur himself.

I really enjoyed Loan-Wilsey's first Hattie Davish mystery, A Lack of Temperance, but I have to admit that I had a more difficult time getting into Anything But Civil.  This is mostly due to the fact that I intensely disliked two of the characters. Henry Starrett was a pompous, spoiled bully who found little reason to rein in his horrible temper. He was so obnoxious that I simply didn't care who killed him because Henry's absence was such a relief. Another character who drew my ire was Rachel Baines, a vain, ill-tempered sort of woman who feels better about herself by constantly putting others down. Henry and Rachel are two sorts of people whom, if I met them in real life, I would walk away-- and stay away-- from. Since they are prominent characters with many scenes, it was tough going at times.

But I still think the character of Hattie Davish is a winner. She's smart, hard-working, quick-thinking and brave, and I enjoy watching her piece together clues to solve the crime. Getting acquainted with Hattie's oft-mentioned employer, Sir Arthur Windom-Greene, was a treat as well. He's an interesting blend of scholar, forward thinker, and proper upper class British gentleman. Also tops on my enjoyment scale is the setting of Galena, Illinois. The author made a very good decision to set her book in the hometown of Ulysses S. Grant. What better place to show the lingering aftereffects of the Civil War than in the home of the best-known of the Union generals?

Although two obnoxious characters did dim my enjoyment of Hattie Davish's second mystery, I like her so much that I'm looking forward to her next adventure.

Anything But Civil by Anna Loan-Wilsey

ISBN: 9780758276360

Kensington © 2013

Paperback, 304 pages

Historical Mystery, #2 Hattie Davish mystery

Rating: B-

Source: NetGalley 

The Judas Field by Howard Bahr

Title: The Judas Field, a Novel of the Civil War
Author: Howard Bahr
ISBN: 9780312426934
Publisher: Picador, 2007
Paperback, 304 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Rating: B
Source: Paperback Swap

First Line: Cass Wakefield was born in a double-pen log cabin just at the break of day, and before he was twenty minutes old, he was almost thrown out with the bedclothes.

Since that rather inauspicious beginning, Cass Wakefield piloted steamboats, married, was a soldier, and became a widower. For the last twenty years, he's lived in Cumberland, Mississippi, and been a traveling salesman selling Colt revolvers.

Alison Sansing lost her father and brother in the war, and for the last twenty years, she's lived in that big old house in Cumberland alone. Having just been told by her doctor that she has cancer and hasn't long to live, the thing Alison fears most is being buried in the family cemetery alone. She asks Cass Wakefield to accompany her to Franklin, Tennessee-- where her father and brother died in battle-- to recover their bodies and bring them back to Cumberland to be buried at home.

Having fought in the Battle of Franklin himself, Cass has no desire whatsoever to return to the area, but he does... for Alison. Two friends who fought alongside Cass travel with the pair, and the closer they all get to Franklin, the more vivid their memories become.

I chose to read this book because my great-great-great-grandfather fought and died in the Battle of Franklin, and the fact that James Henry Brown's uniform was blue not gray, doesn't make a bit of difference. Bahr sets his scene very carefully. The pace felt like a steam locomotive pulling out of the station and gradually gaining speed. A profound sense of sadness, of sorrow, for all that was lost, for all the lives that were forever changed, permeates the book. At one point Alison asks what the fighting was like, and the response is one of the best I've ever read about the impossibility of telling someone who wasn't there what it's like to fight in the midst of the bloodbath of battle:

"If we live a thousand years, won't ever find a way to tell it." He coughed , and turned his head to spit. "In a battle, everything is wrong, nothing you ever learned is true anymore. And when you come out-- if you do-- you can't remember. You have to put it back together by the rules you know, and you end up with a lie. That's the best you can do, and when you tell it, it'll still be a lie."

The book's sadness turns to heartbreak as the men arrive in Franklin and try to locate where the bodies were buried so long ago. Yes, things have changed, but there are still roads, still buildings, that unleash an overwhelming tide of memory and loss. It's some of the best writing about war I've ever read because Bahr never once lets graphic carnage carry his story. It's a wonderful thing when a writer credits his readers with enough imagination and feeling to fill in the blanks for themselves.

Cass Wakefield is a beautifully realized character. One I will long remember, as I will remember The Judas Field. I come away from the book feeling that I now have a tiny idea of what my ancestor went through in that time and place so long ago.

The Judas Field at Amazon.

The Judas Field at The Book Depository.

The Judas Field at Your Favorite Indie Bookseller.

Remembering the Man on the Wrong Side of the Fence

Columbia, Tenn.
Nov 25, 1864

Mrs Lucy Brown

Dear Wife
I am well and hearty and feel as well satisfied as I expected. We got here on the morning of the 23rd and got to our regiment the 24th in the morning. This is a nice place for camping, it is high and dry, and very hilly. We had some very cold weather while we was on our way here. The people at Nashville said that it was as cold here as it had been for several years. I think from the appearance here that we may stay here for some time, but we can't tell for certain one day what we will do the next. I am getting anxious to hear from you and the children. I want you to write to me as soon as you get this letter and tell all my friends to write to me.
...There has been some skirmishing with our cavalry and the Rebels for the last 4 or 5 days but all is quiet today. The weather is warm and nice. One man made a bet of $100 the other day that the war would end in 3 months and offered to bet $900 more that it would end in 5 months. The opinion of some is that we will know by the first of January how it will be but we can't tell yet. I want you to keep in good spirits till I come home for I feel as though I will come out all right.... Now we are called to get our arms.
I have got back and had dinner. We can hear some cannons, they appear to be 2 or 3 miles off.

The words above are from the last letter James Henry Brown (the man in the photo) wrote to his wife, Lucy Ann Sarah. Within ten days, he was dead-- killed in the Battle of Franklin. The Battle of Franklin saw some of the bloodiest fighting in the American Civil War. In places bodies lay as they fell in tall piles. You couldn't walk without stepping on the dead. The ground was soaked deep red with blood.

James Henry's wife (seen to the left) didn't understand about war. All she knew was that she wanted her husband back home where he belonged. She insisted that his body be brought home for burial.

She didn't know-- and from my reading I think it would be safe to say that she didn't care-- about just exactly what that demand meant. Men buried in mass graves. Men with very little, if any, identification. By the time her request went through all the necessary channels, months had passed. The poor souls assigned to looking for James Henry's body had little more to go on than approximate height, Union soldier, red hair, full red beard. I'm sure that the second they found a body in a blue uniform that had red hair and a red beard, they stopped looking. And let's be honest: under the same circumstances, wouldn't you?

James Henry's body arrived home (south of Vandalia, Illinois) in June of 1865. The war was over. The Battle of Franklin had been fought over six long months ago. People gathered to bury him in the family cemetery, but before the coffin could be lowered into the ground, Lucy Ann Sarah made one more demand: "Open the coffin. I want to see my husband."

Many folks tried their best to get Lucy Ann Sarah (she was always called by all three names) to change her mind. If you can tell anything about her from that photo above, I think you can see that DETERMINATION should have been her middle name. She would not be denied. The coffin was opened, and Lucy Ann Sarah took a good long look. Most of the other folks didn't look at all. After several minutes had passed, she said, "That is not my husband. That is not James Henry." Her will was so powerful that whoever was in the coffin was not buried in the family cemetery.

Over one hundred years later, as a teenager, I joined many other family members down in the hills and hollers of southern Illinois. I couldn't take you there today if my life depended on it because the route consisted of little-traveled country roads. My great-grandfather was in the car with me, my grandparents and my mother. We were depending on his directions to get us to the old church and cemetery. All I can remember is that we had to turn left onto a little road when we got to Frogtown. (Frogtown was all of one old weathered wooden building that looked as though a stiff breeze would blow it into the next state. Truth be told, that old building is probably standing today and will stand long past my own death.)


The Brown family had gathered because the family church, old Center Church, was a hazard and was going to be torn down. My grandfather collected bells and went to the trouble of getting the old church bell down from the tower to be taken home to Moweaqua. The old family cemetery, located on some land out in the middle of fields and pastures, was overgrown. While some folks tended to the bell and the church, the rest of us got our gloves, hoes and rakes and started tending to the cemetery.

In the photos above, you can see old Center Church to the right, and the cemetery to the left. The tallest gravestone just happens to be Lucy Ann Sarah's, and you can see a field and an old barn right behind the graves.

In 1968 when all this clean-up was occurring, I was thirteen years old. I pulled weeds, hoed and raked just like everybody else, and I didn't get too bored because the all the names on the tombstones represented people who were related to me. At that stage in my life, I'd been in many old cemeteries, but this was the first time that all those dead folk were kin.

My interest began to wane just as everyone was finishing up and deciding which farm to go to for lunch. It was a typical hot, muggy, bug-laden Illinois summer day, and I looked over to the woods, knowing that a creek ran through the trees. I squeezed through the gaps in the barbed wire fence and started to head over to the woods when I saw a weathered marker lying on the ground on the pasture side of the fence that ran around the cemetery. I went on over to take a look.

The old pieces of wood had originally been in the shape of a cross. With the tip of a forefinger, I traced shallow carving in the crosspiece until I deciphered the marks: UNK. For some reason I knew not to make a big production out of this find, and I went over to my mother on the sly and told her what I'd found. That's when Mom told me about James Henry and Lucy Ann Sarah declaring that the body they'd shipped from Tennessee wasn't her husband. "You've found where they buried the man she rejected," Mom said.

Mom's attention was almost immediately claimed by someone else. I picked up a rake and a hoe and climbed back through the fence. I put on my thick leather gloves and cleaned up the afterthought of a grave that Lucy Ann Sarah gave to "Unknown". I found some bits of wire and fixed the cross and set it straight in the ground where it should be. I looked into the cemetery proper, at all the graves decorated with stone markers and flowers. I looked down at this grave scratched out in the dirt of a pasture where any of the livestock could stand on it.

I sat down by the grave and put my hand on the cross and felt an overwhelming sense of sorrow. "I don't know who you are, mister, but you deserve respect just like anyone else who's buried here. My family didn't do right by you, and I apologize for that."

To this day when Memorial Day rolls around, the first person I think of is a lonely man buried on the wrong side of a fence that surrounds an old family cemetery. He fought and died for his country. He is deserving of respect.

REVIEW: A Civil General

Title: A Civil General
Authors: David Stinebeck and Scannell Gill
ISBN: 9780865346635
Historical Fiction
Rating: B

First Line: The woods are crashing.

Author David Stinebeck's great-grandfather fought under General George Henry Thomas during the Civil War and recorded his experiences in his diaries. Stinebeck has used those diaries as the basis for this novel, narrated by a young colonel who becomes the general's confidante.

I'm not totally in the dark about the Civil War. Having two rabid genealogists in the family and knowing that my great-great-great grandfather died during the Battle of Franklin helped boost my interest in that time period. However, the only thing I knew about Thomas was his nickname: "the Rock of Chickamauga". Reading A Civil General greatly increased my knowledge of this almost-forgotten general.

He shouldn't be forgotten. He was the most successful Union general, and the reason for his success was due in large part to the way he treated his men. They loved him and would do anything he asked. Other generals would wear their best uniforms for formal occasions. George Henry Thomas dressed up for his men. Part of the reason for his lack of lasting fame in the history books undoubtedly stems from George Henry Thomas himself. A native of Virginia, he was a friend of Robert E. Lee, but his staunch Union beliefs made him an outcast, disowned by his own family. He turned down more than one promotion because he wanted promotion only under his own terms. He saw no reason to kowtow to political lackeys for recognition or advancement. According to A Civil General, another reason for Thomas' lack of fame also lies with some of his fellow officers whom he made very uncomfortable.

I think this book would have been even better if it weren't so short--a mere 159 pages. The subject is so interesting that it deserves a more in-depth treatment. I also found the narration a bit awkward from time to time and would have appreciated it being written from a different point of view. However, I did enjoy reading this book. It made me try to overload Google with searches on General George Henry Thomas. The authors have done us a great service in bringing this man to our notice again. The attention is more than well deserved.

REVIEW: A Killing at Ball's Bluff

Title: A Killing at Ball's Bluff
Author: Michael Kilian
Protagonist: Harrison Raines, member of the newly formed Secret Service
Setting: Washington, D.C. and Virginia during the first year of the Civil War
Series: #2
Rating: DNF

First Line: Harrison Raines did not want to talk to the small, dirty boy who darted into the Palace of Fortune and headed directly for his table.

Viriginian Harrison Raines was disowned by his planter father because Harrison doesn't believe in slavery. Making a living from gambling and horse trading, he plays a dangerous game in Washington, D.C.: pretending to be a Southern sympathizer while in reality being a member of a new agency, the U.S. Secret Service, headed by Allan Pinkerton. Raines gets into hot water when Rose O'Neill Greenhow is arrested as a spy, and he's sent back to his horse farm in disgrace. Soon however, he's sent for in order to protect a Colonel in the Union Army who is a close friend of President Abraham Lincoln. When the Colonel is killed, Raines begins tracking down the killer.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, Murder at Manassas, but after reading 100 pages of A Killing at Ball's Bluff, I realized that I just wasn't hooked. None of the characters were keeping my interest and even the historical angle was dry as dust. Normally a DNF is some sort of disaster for me; something was so bad that I just couldn't finish it. In the case of A Killing at Ball's Bluff, I found no disaster in its pages. I just didn't find any interest.