Lt. Lucius Hefley, CSA, frustrated
and disillusioned with the fall of the Confederacy, rides into
the rainy night. Behind is the stain of the War Between the States.
Ahead is the new war of Reconstruction. When he rescues a young
woman and her mother from murderous scalawags, his life takes
on a new meaning. Together they begin a journey of fear and love
that ranges across the lower South from Alabama and Mississippi
to New Orleans, then up the Big Muddy toward Arkansas.
Along the way, Lucius is challenged by a corrupt justice system,
and begins to question the racial prejudice so deeply ingrained
in the society that is gone forever, but which still holds the
tenuously united nation in its hateful grip. He bears witness
to the lingering disenfranchisement of the war and the lure of
the just-forming Ku Klux Klan, and must come to terms with his
own demons and prejudices as he searches for an elusive inner
peace and a place to build a home.
The Night of the White Camellia is meticulously
researched and lovingly drawn by Gerald Eugene Nathan Stone.
It is packed full of the swift action, gritty detail, lyrical
dialect, memorable characters, and warm good humor his readers
have come to expect. |
