The North and South Trilogy - North and South Love and War and Heaven and Hell

John Jakes

Summary

Two families are united—and torn apart—by the Civil War in these three dramatic novels by the #1 New York Times–bestselling master of the historical epic. In North and South, the first volume of John Jakes’s acclaimed and sweeping saga, a friendship is threatened by the divisions of the Civil War. In the years leading up to the Civil War, one enduring friendship embodies the tensions of a nation. Orry Main from South Carolina and George Hazard from Pennsylvania forge a lasting bond while training at the United States Military Academy at West Point. Together they fight in the Mexican-American War, but their closeness is tested as their regional politics diverge. As the first rounds are fired at Fort Sumter, Orry and George find themselves on different sides of the coming struggle. In John Jakes’s unmatched style, North and South launches a trilogy that captures the fierce passions of a country at the precipice of disaster. In Love and War, the Main and Hazard families clash on and off the Civil War’s battlefields as they grapple with the violent realities of a divided nation. With the Confederate and Union armies furiously fighting, the once-steadfast bond between the Main and Hazard families continues to be tested. From opposite sides of the conflict, they face heartache and triumph on the frontlines as they fight for the future of the nation and their loved ones. With his impeccable research and unfailing devotion to the historical record, John Jakes offers his most enthralling and enduring tale yet. In Heaven and Hell, the battle between the Mains and Hazards—and Confederate and Union armies—comes to a brilliant end. The last days of the Civil War bring no peace for the Main and Hazard families. As the Mains’ South smolders in the ruins of defeat, the Hazards’ North pushes blindly for relentless industrial progress. Both the nation and the families’ long-standing bond hover on the brink of destruction. In the series’ epic conclusion, Jakes expertly blends personal conflict with historical events, crafting a haunting page-turner about America’s constant change and unyielding hope. This “entertaining [and] authentic dramatization” (The New York Times) is a thrilling tale of shifting loyalties, set during one of the darkest moments in American history.

Available since: 05/21/2013.

Print length: 2751 pages.

Other books that might interest you

Light in the Forest

Conrad Richter

“True Son’s heart felt like a stone. How could this fantastic and inferior figure in a long fawn-colored garment like a woman’s be possibly anything to him—this pallid creature who revealed his feelings in front of all! In the boy’s mind came the picture of his Indian father. How differently he would have looked and acted. With what dignity and restraint he could conduct himself in any situation, in peace or war, in council or the hunt, with pipe or tomahawk, rifle or scalping knife. This weak and pale-skinned man was nothing beside him ‘He’s not my father,’ he said.”—from The Light in the Forest.  Johnny Butler was just four years old when his Lenni Lenape “father,” Cuyloga, spoke the words that siphoned out his white blood and put Indian blood in its place. Now the Yengwes, the white soldiers, were taking him back to his “true” home. Inside of him hate and anger spread like poisons. The Light in the Forest, by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Conrad Richter, will touch a new generation with its lasting truths.

Show book

Topping the Dome - Art and...

Richard F. Novak

Based on actual events during the politically tense period leading up to the American Civil War. It tells the tragic true story of the sculptor Thomas Crawford chosen to create the iconic image, Statue of Freedom, crowning the Capitol Dome in Washington, DC. His life as a sculptor in Rome intermingles with some of the most interesting personages of the era—the great abolitionist Senator from Massachusetts Charles Sumner, Clark Mills a self-taught sculptor and Washington insider, and Captain Montgomery C. Meigs construction supervisor of the of extension of the capitol and its new dome. The story moves back and forth between Crawford's studio in the ancient capital of Italy, Rome, and the new capital of America, Washington, DC. Well researched.

Show book

The Sunset Limited

Cormac McCarthy

A recipient of the National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize, Cormac McCarthy has established himself as the rare author whose every work is a cause for celebration. With this novel in  dramatic form, McCarthy gives voice to existential dread and ultimate meaning. “Like the novelists he admires—Melville, Dostoyevsky,  Faulkner—Cormac McCarthy has created an imaginative oeuvre greater and deeper than any single book. Such writers wrestle with the gods themselves.”—Washington Post Book World

Show book

Docherty

William McIlvanney

Whitbread Award Winner: A Scottish miner fights for a better life for his son in this “intense, witty and beautifully wrought novel” (Daily Telegraph). 
 
At the dawn of the twentieth century, newborn Conn Docherty, raw as a fresh wound, lies between his parents in their tenement room, with no birthright but a life's labor in the pits of his small town on the coast of Scotland. But the world is changing, and, lying next to him, Conn's father, Tam, has decided that his son’s life will be different from his own…  
 
Gritty, dark and tender, Docherty is a modern classic, “a serious, considered and achingly sympathetic engagement with the people whose only trace in historical record is birth and dead notices” (Scotsman). 
 
“McIlvanney depicts the west of Scotland with a canny and ruthless insight.”—Scotsman  
 
“As a stylist Mr. McIlvanney leaves most of the competition far behind.”—The New York Times Book Review

Show book

Sonata for a Scoundrel - Music...

Anthea Lawson

~USA Today bestselling, RITA-nominated romance~  
Life in London’s poorest quarter is hard, but gifted composer Clara Becker scrapes a living writing music under her brother’s name. When celebrated musician Darien Reynard notices her work, it seems fortune is smiling on the Becker siblings at last. But Clara must keep her distance from Darien if she hopes to protect their secret—and her heart. 
Set against the glittering backdrop of 19th century celebrity, Sonata for a Scoundrel will sweep listeners away into a world of music and passion.

Show book

Between Two Shores

Jocelyn Green

The daughter of a Mohawk mother and French father in 1759 Montreal, Catherine Duval finds it is easier to remain neutral in a world that is tearing itself apart. Content to trade with both the French and the British, Catherine is pulled into the fray against her wishes when her British ex-fiance, Samuel Crane, is taken prisoner by her father. Samuel asks her to help him escape, claiming he has information that could help end the war. Peace appeals to Catherine, but helping the man who broke her heart does not. She delays . . . until attempts on Samuel's life convince her he's in mortal danger. Against her better judgment she helps him flee by river, using knowledge of the landscape to creep ever closer to freedom. Their time together rekindles feelings she thought long buried, and danger seems to hound their every mile. She's risked becoming a traitor by choosing a side, but will the decision cost her even more than she anticipated?

Show book