The Widow of the South » (Unabridged)

An avid collector and Civil War buff, Robert Hicks illuminates the era he finds so intriguing in his first novel, The Widow of the South. In our interview, he reflects on his affinity for another southern writer: "I claim little connection with Faulkner, other than the hold that the past had on him and has on me," he explains. "Like him, I remain optimistic about the future, despite the turmoil of the world."

In 1894 Carrie McGavock is an old woman who has only her former slave to keep her company...and the almost 1,500 soldiers buried in her backyard. Years before, rather than let someone plow over the field where these young men had been buried, Carrie dug them up and reburied them in her own personal cemetery. Now, as she walks the rows of the dead, an old soldier appears. It is the man she met on the day of the battle that changed everything. The man who came to her house as a wounded soldier and left with her heart. He asks if the cemetery has room for one more.

In an extraordinary debut novel, based on a remarkable true story, Robert Hicks draws an unforgettable, panoramic portrait of a woman who, through love and loss, found a cause. Known throughout the country as "The Widow of the South," Carrie McGavock gave her heart first to a stranger, then to a tract of hallowed ground and became a symbol of a nation s soul.

THE WIDOW OF THE SOUTH is a brilliant novel...

Paulette Jiles

… Carrie McGavock's convoluted internal monologues about why she feels impelled to rescue the wounded and bury the dead halt the narrative in its tracks. Better to stick with Cashwell; he alone is worth the read. I'd follow him anywhere, wooden leg and all.
3 The Washington Post