Where the Mockingbird Sang, a novel of the Civil War

Every life has a watershed moment, a moment where nothing is as before and will never be again. It is a moment where each of us wonders, “What if…?” Such is the Battle of Port Gibson, Mississippi for Evans Atwood, a young 2nd Lieutenant in the Confederate Army. Through him the story of so many who gave their hearts and sacrificed so much dear to them to be able to provide and protect freedom and their right to self determination comes to life. These men and women are forever changed as are those who are left behind to suffer other horrors and evil that war brings.
Where the Mockingbird Sang is set in the Arkansas Ozarks before, during, and after the Civil War. It is an intriguing tale of lust, war, capture and imprisonment, escape, betrayal, family, and the ability of good and love to triumph over the horrors of war.
Evans teaches school at the Friendship Baptist Church in Shiloh, Arkansas where he meets Lucy Jane Roberts, a beautiful transplant from eastern Tennessee. With her beauty and her designs on a better life, she sweeps him along a course that will change his life and the lives of all around him. Lucy’s seduction of Evans forces him to choose her over his lifelong friend, neighbor, and love, Susan Wilson. All is well with the young couple until the challenges of war come into their lives. Evans and his wandering, older, back-woods friend, Nathanial James Buchanan or Buck, are certain, as are soldiers on both sides of the conflict, that the war will only last a few months. Evans leaves Lucy Jane with eighteen month old Martha Jane and six week old James Calvin when he and Buck enlist in the 15th Arkansas Infantry to secure the freedoms they long for.