Where the Mockingbird Sang: A Novel of the Civil War

All choices have consequences; some very little, while others reach through the years and affect the lives of subsequent generations. Where the Mockingbird Sang, set in the Arkansas Ozarks before, during, and after the Civil War is an intriguing tale of lust, war, capture and imprisonment, escape, betrayal, family, and the ability of good and love to triumph over the horrors of war. Evans Atwood is a warrior in the Confederate Army who serves with honor. Through him the story of so many who gave their hearts and sacrificed so much dear to them to be able to provide and protect freedom and their right to self determination comes to life. These men and women are forever changed as are those who are left behind to suffer other horrors and evil that war brings. Evans teaches school at the Primitive Baptist Church in Shiloh, Arkansas where he meets Lucy Jane Roberts, a beautiful transplant from eastern Tennessee. With her beauty and her designs on a better life, she sweeps him along a course that will change his life and the lives of all around him. Due to Lucy's seduction of Evans, and the resulting pregnancy, he chooses her over his lifelong friend, neighbor, and love, Susan Wilson. All is well with the young couple until the challenges of war come into their lives. Evans and his wandering, older, back woods friend, Nathanial James Buchanan or Buck, are certain, as are soldiers on both sides of the conflict that the war will only last a few months. Evans leaves Lucy Jane with eighteen month old Martha Jane and six week old James Calvin when he and Buck enlist in the 15th Arkansas Infantry to secure the freedoms they long for.

David Wilson Atwood is the author of Where the Mockingbird Sang, and The Common Guys Guide to Raising Children. He is best known for his long running column, Points of the Compass in the Anchorage Daily News, Talk of the Bay magazine, and the Fairhope Courier, where he has essayed subjects ranging from Vietnam to combat fishing in Alaska. David majored in biology and chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin after his combat tour in Vietnam with the Marine Corps. He is the father of eight children and lives in Fairhope, Alabama with his wife and two young daughters.