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Hicks returns to national tragedy

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By Vick Mickunas, Contributing Writer 4:42 PM Friday, October 9, 2009

“A Separate Country” by Robert Hicks (Grand Central, 424 pages, $25.99)

“The Widow of the South” by Robert Hicks (Grand Central, 551 pages, $7.99)

Our American Civil War was a national tragedy. One hundred fifty years later, those echoes of carnage and heartbreak still resonate. Civil War history fascinates us. That epic struggle between North and South has provided fertile ground for some fine works of fiction too, books like “Gone With The Wind” and “Cold Mountain.”

The Tennessee writer Robert Hicks based his debut novel, “The Widow of the South,” on a true story from the Civil War. It was inspired by one of the most horrific battles of 1864 when the Confederate Army under the command of General John Bell Hood, suffered catastrophic losses at Franklin, Tenn. General Hood made poor decisions. His troops paid for Hood’s bullheaded tactics with their lives.

Hood was a legendary tragic figure. During his early military career in Texas he suffered an arrow wound to his hand. At Gettysburg, a severe wound to his arm left it useless. Then at the Battle of Chickamauga, he was so gravely injured that one leg had to be removed. Miraculously, he survived.

Had he died, he might have been remembered as a heroic figure. But he lived and is now mostly remembered for the disastrous rout at Franklin. Robert Hicks has based his second novel, “A Separate Country,” on General Hood’s post-war years. Hood moved to New Orlean’s where he met his future wife, Anna Marie Hennen.

She was a Creole belle who fell in love with the much older general. They married and over the course of 10 years she bore him 11 children. Hood tried his hand at business. He ran an unsuccessful cotton brokerage firm. When that failed, he went into the insurance business. That venture collapsed amidst the Yellow Fever epidemic that devastated New Orleans during the winter of 1878-79.

Hicks tells Hood’s story from three viewpoints — that of Hood, his wife, and a young man named Eli Griffin. As the book opens, Hood is on his deathbed, dying from the fever. He summons Eli and instructs him to resolve some important matters for him. Hood has been writing books. One is a history of his Civil War experiences. The other is the story of his post-war life.

This story builds momentum from the instant Hood dies. The author rolls out a cast of fascinating characters who slide in and out of the story as it is related by our three narrators. Anna Marie has three childhood friends who drive the plot along. There’s Father Mike, a gigantic, hairy Catholic priest; Rintrah is a dwarf and the leader of a criminal syndicate; Paschal is a gifted musician and a lady’s man.

General Hood’s narration consists of Eli’s reading of the general’s book about his life. Hicks immerses us in a steaming gumbo of racism, gambling, class struggle, pride, forgotten massacres and poignant memories.

“The Widow of the South” has just been re-issued in a paperback.

Contact book reviewer Vick Mickunas at vick@vickmickunas.com.

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