Beneath the Shadows
By Lee Ann Newton and James A. Benson
(September 2008 Civil War News)

Novel, 2006, softcover, 360 pp. Cold Tree Press, 214 Overlook Court, Suite 253, Brentwood, TN 37027, $16.95 plus shipping.

Reviewer: Blake A. Magner
Blake A. Magner is the Book Review Editor of Civil War News. He makes his liv­ing as an editor, writer, car­tographer and photographer of Civil War history. He is author of At Peace With Honor: The Civil War Burials of Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Review:
This is the story of a Midwestern farmer, Caleb, who runs off to fight for Father Abraham, leaving a love interest, Lydia, behind at home. The book opens with the battle of Perryville where our green soldier turns coward and runs, only to be shot (he later finds out by one of his own men).

 Somewhere he finds his courage and tries single-handedly to take on the entire Confederate army. Despite having his clothes riddled with musket balls he is not hit. Severely injured, mostly by the friendly fire, he rises from coward to hero.

Meanwhile at home his love interest is to be taken by a man she does not love due to her overbearing mother. After being ravaged by the man she is to wed she flees her home with the intention of finding her brothers who are in the same regiment as Caleb.

Fast forward to 1939 and the elderly Lydia and her daughter, Matilda, who run the Pine Ridge Settlement School. Matilda has passed her prime years, yet is still searching for herself and the meaning of her existence. She also has this, at least to her, annoying habit of becoming part of her dreams where she actually transports back to the Civil War and interrelates with the goings- on.

The book flip-flops back and forth between the 1860s and 1939, bringing in various characters like some of Caleb’s superiors; a religious woman, Mary, who acts as a nurse to the wounded and gets Lydia involved; and the Gravedigger, a murdering rapist that eventually kidnaps Lydia. Caleb’s personality hardens despite his relationship with Lydia, especially after the Gravedigger episode.

Though I thought that this volume would have religious overtones due to the authors’ Acknowledgements and Mary’s character, it boils down into a hard core, blood and guts, murder and rape epic. Despite the time flip-flopping, the volume is well-written and readable.

I was a bit disappointed with the ending as, though you know Lydia and Caleb would wed, it ended with him riding off into the sunset. Also Matilda does not seem to find happiness as the volume ends with her waking up after one of her trips to find herself in her bathtub.

The back cover of the book does indicate there is supposed to be a sequel. Let’s hope it answers the questions.