I Jonathan, A Charleston Tale of the Rebellion

Just before America joins World War 2, a college student is called to join distant relatives honoring the 100th birthday of his Great Uncle Jonathan in Hendersonville, NC. While there, the old man begins the story of how he came to live in the South, far from his native Boston. From a family of privilege, 16-year-old Jonathan finds himself impoverished and alone in a city about to declare war against his own country. He must rely on himself and his new friends to endure a siege of war, while finding love and life's meaning and fulfillment. Jonathan witnesses or participates in every major event that occurs in Civil War Charleston, from the last great horse race and the city's great fire of 1861, to the bombardment of Fort Sumter. He and his friends witness the battles of Secessionville and Battery Wagner (made famous in the movie "Glory"), the year-long Federal bombardment of Fort Sumter and of the City of Charleston, and the struggles of a strong society coming to terms with its demise. Jonathan meets and accepts as friends people from every walk of life, from enslaved people and free Blacks, to Citadel cadets, merchants and poor working Whites to the wealthy plantation class. The tale's many characters include Irish and German immigrants, inventors, musicians, blockade runners, Union and Confederate officers and soldiers, and the three women who so effected Jonathan's life. Beyond the historical events, this coming-of-age novel is an exploration of Southern society from an outsider's perspective, with fresh eyes looking at the peculiar institution of American slave-holding, the culture's evasive reasoning for defending it, and what happens when their most proudly held beliefs and promises are lost.