Robert Olmstead

One of our favorite novels of 2007, this is more than a Civil War novel. Between the covers of this slim novel are packed more gorgeous sentences, vivid imagery, and meaningful character interactions than in most chunkier fictions. To watch the progress of the young boy who sets out at the beginning of this novel, sent by his mother on a mission to retrieve his father from battle, and the young man who returns, having witnessed unspeakable horrors and earned deep insight at the mount of his wise steed, is to have lived his passage a little yourself. It is a quiet and savage book that will leave the reader a bit shattered and hopeful.

Signed first editions.