The Year of Jubilo

About the book

Howard Bahr's award-winning debut novel, The Black Flower, was embraced by readers and critics as one of the finest Civil War novels written in recent years, earning him comparisons to Stephen Crane and William Faulkner. Now, in The Year of Jubilo, Bahr returns to that time period to weave a story even more powerful and epic in scope -- the unforgettable tale of a Confederate soldier returning home to find that life and love will never be the same.

On a balmy spring day in 1865 Gawain Harper approaches the town of Cumberland, Mississippi, where three years earlier he had boarded a train carrying the latest enlistees in the Mississippi Infantry. Unmoved by the Cause that motivated so many others, Gawain had joined up only when Morgan Rhea's father told him that he would never wed his beloved Morgan unless he did his part in the war effort.

Now, upon his safe arrival home, Gawain discovers postwar life is far from what he expected. Morgan has indeed waited for him, but before they can marry there are scores to be settled. For in Cumberland, yet another battle is being waged, and the enemy is not the occupying Federal troops but the town's own "King" Solomon Gault, a deranged, manipulative man on a mission to restore his own brand of justice to a community turned upside down. As Gawain, with unexpected support from a diverse group of men, struggles to find a way to avenge the Rhea family's honor, he is drawn into an exorable showdown with Gault that once again pits South against North, and dignity against defeat.

A poignant and sweeping novel that reveals the human side of one of the pivotal moments in American history, The Year of Jublio evokes a time of sorrow and defeat, of anarchy and violence, but also of hope and rebuilding. A brilliant achievement -- and a grand entertainment -- it is sure to catapult Howard Bahr to the top rank of American novelists.