- Paperback: 384 pages
- Publisher: Picador; First Edition edition (May 4 2001)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0312280696
- ISBN-13: 978-0312280697
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.7 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 363 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #610,647 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Midway through Howard Bahr's gripping, evocative second novel, Colonel Burduck sums up the Civil War with this rueful conclusion: "Too much had happened, was still happening, and enough remained for generations to wallow in bitterness, making charge and countercharge, revising and accusing and apologizing long after the smoke had drifted away on the wind, and those who had walked through the smoke were dust." The Year of Jubilo, set in Cumberland, Mississippi, in the summer of 1865, is the account of some who passed through that smoke.
A reluctant soldier, Gawain Harper was goaded into joining the Confederate forces in 1862 by the rabid secessionist Judge Rhea, father of the woman Harper loves. After three years of fighting the Union, the former professor of literature is now trudging home defeated and confused, weighed down by the thought that he is "walking through someone else's memory." The South of his past has indeed vanished, and the town Harper returns to is now governed by the victorious (but wary) soldiers of the North and overflowing with vengeful planters, opportunistic spies, and the fear and ingrained attitudes of its vanquished citizens. These characters are larger than life, as only those who live in such a land and time--one of Queen Anne's lace and poisonous snakes, of Victorian manners and the human indignity of slavery--can be. There's "King" Solomon Gault, the ruthless captain of a band of insurrectionists, plotting an attack on the ruling army; Colonel Burduck, the battle-worn commander who captured slave ships off the African coast in his youth and must now maintain order in a region that once supported slavery; Molochi Fish, a grotesque semi-being who lurks on the edges of humanity, scarred by brutality and meting it out in return; and of course Harper, who, spurred on by the meddling but ebullient Harry Stribling, dives back into this mess to create a life and retrieve a love.
Time is as enveloping in The Year of Jubilo as the lingering smoke of war and the sudden downpours that drench Cumberland's burned landscape. Bahr weaves his characters in and out of one another's lives, creating an almost smothering net. Harper notes, "they were spared of death, so must once again pay the tally for living; free, so they were indentured to tomorrow." In a fascinating narrative of epic proportion and intricate detail, Bahr intertwines life, love, loyalty (or the lack thereof), freedom, slavery, and death. --S. Ketchum --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
In this sweeping, lyrical tale set in the aftermath of the Civil War, Bahr (The Black Flower) brilliantly depicts vanquished Southerners coming to terms with the ravages of war, while their Northern counterparts go about the grueling and often thankless task of making the country whole again. Shamed by his girlfriend, Morgan Rhea, and her father into signing up with the Confederate army, former Cumberland, Miss., English teacher Gawain Harper is on his way back to the civilian life he abruptly left three years before. Taking up with another returning soldier, Harry Stribling, an enigmatic fellow Southerner who fancies himself a philosopher, 40-year-old Gawain confronts the dispiriting realities of change. The countryside is different, but so are the people, and the horrors of war have altered Gawain as well. Bahr ingeniously explores the many facets of killing: hand-to-hand combat; killing for vengeance; killing for hire; killing in self-defense or out of loyalty to a cause. Most troubling of all is the kind of killing fueled by a perverse righteousness and a lust for power--the kind practiced by renegade Southern leader Solomon Gault, a wealthy smuggler and a force to be reckoned with in Cumberland. Among his other evil deeds, Gault killed Morgan's sister Lily during the war, and so Gawain is drawn against his will into yet another battle, this time on his home turf. It is Gault's final skirmish that brings Southerners and Northerners together, culminating in a confrontation that will haunt Gawain and his loved ones forever. Bahr has crafted an unforgettably powerful and original Civil War story in this incisive account of one man's search for redemption from the sins of fratricidal conflict. 13-city author tour. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
Gawain Harper stood in the deep mud of the southerly road, listening. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
Gawain Harper stood in the deep mud of the southerly road, listening. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most helpful customer reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
After the war came the fighting,
By hrladyship (Las Cruces, NM United States) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War (Paperback)
In The Year of Jubilo, Howard Bahr tells the story of Gawain Harper's return to his home in Cumberland, Miss. after the end of the War Between the States. Waiting for him are his father, his Aunt Vassar, while Morgan Rhea, the woman he loves, believes him dead. As he nears home, he begins meeting up with strange characters: some he knew before, others are strangers, all of them will figure in his life for the next few days.Returning home was rarely easy for Confederate soldiers. Like most, Gawain finds things much changed. His family home is run down. His father is ill. Many homes and businesses lie in ruins. And Union soldiers are camped within the town. Still, he hopes to settle back into civilian life, a life he wants to share with Morgan. However, King Solomon Gault, a self-styled officer and guerilla leader, has other plans for Cumberland and those who live in the area. For him and his followers, the war is far from over, and there are neighbors who deserve punishment at his hands. Gawain deals with Gault and his own demons as best he can and with the help of strange bedfellows. Bahr has created believable characters and events. His prose style makes for a beautiful reading experience and, although superb, never gets in the way of the story. It spans only a few days, is a quick read, and one that the reader will dwell on for a while.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Master Story Teller,
By A Customer
This review is from: The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War (Paperback)
Howard Bahr has a way of bringing the reader into the landscape of his story. With rich text and description he makes the process of visualizing the scene very clear and rewarding. Whether describing the shadow of leaves on a face or the rheumy eyes of Molochi Fish you have a clear vision as the story unfolds. Bahr has a way of gently weaving the tale through the eyes of the characters and the landscape that they inhabit. Mr. Bahr evokes a real feeling of the ghosts, the grief and the loss every character brings to the story in a palpable way. There is a distinct sense of what losses are brought about by war and hate. This book was a pleasure to read and I will look forward to Mr. Bahr's next book.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Gorgeous,
By
This review is from: The Year of Jubilo: A Novel of the Civil War (Hardcover)
I'd give it 10 stars if I could! Only one other book in the last five years has been able to match the literary prose of this novel. This is a gem for lovers of words and stories!
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