The Widow of the South – Robert Hicks (2005)
Robert Hicks’ debut historical novel resurrects the haunting true story of Carrie McGavock, a Confederate widow whose Tennessee plantation, Carnton, became a makeshift hospital during the brutal Battle of Franklin (1864). As thousands die on her doorstep, Carrie transforms from a grieving mother (she lost three children) into the caretaker of nearly 1,500 Confederate graves, earning her the nickname “The Widow of the South.”
Hicks weaves together perspectives: Zachariah Cashwell, a wounded soldier haunted by his past; Mariah, Carrie’s enslaved confidante; and Colonel John Schofield, a Union officer caught in the war’s moral fog. The prose is visceral, blending Gothic atmosphere with unflinching war scenes—amputations in the parlor, blood-soaked fields—while probing themes of loss, redemption, and the porous line between enemy and ally.
“A war novel where the real battle is for memory—and the dead outnumber the living.”
