Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
An amazing tour de force depicting a family's journey from devastation to rebirth following the American Civil War, from New York Times bestselling author William Gear.
The Hancocks of Arkansas were true American pioneers: tough, enterprising, eager to make their own destinies.
Then came the Civil War, the deadly, murderous conflict that sundered the bonds between brothers, destroyed most of a generation, and cast the Hancocks to the winds...
Against this bloody backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the struggle to rebuild, William Gear draws his readers irresistibly into the hopes, dreams, and despairs of the Hancock siblings: Philip, the doctor whose life is destroyed upon his return home; Butler, the teacher whose path leads to mysticism and insanity; Billy, who fails to protect his mother and sister and, in his guilt, becomes a monster; and Sarah, the stunning beauty who flees West to reinvent herself after surviving a brutal attack.
Through the tragedies and triumphs of a single family, this sprawling epic shows how ordinary people deal with unimaginable devastation, and how the bonds of family can never truly be broken.
Synopsis
This Scorched Earth is an amazing tour de force depicting a family's journey from near-devastation in the Civil War to their rebirth in the American West, from New York Times bestselling author William Gear.
The Civil War tore at the very roots of our nation and destroyed most of a generation.
In rural Arkansas, the Hancocks were devastated by that war. They not only lost everything, but experienced an unimaginable hell.
How does a traumatized human being put themselves back together? Where does a person begin to heal his or her broken mind...and does one choose damnation or redemption? For the Hancock siblings: Doc, Sarah, Butler, and Billy, the American frontier becomes a metaphor for the wilderness within--raw, and capable of being shaped. Self-salvation, however, always comes with a price.
Their journey is a testament to the power of love...and the American spirit.
This is their story. And ours.