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Civil War re-enactors muster on foggy weekends to re-fight old battles between the North and the South on the mountainous border between North Carolina and Tennessee. Donning authentic uniforms from both sides and armed with muzzle loading, antique rifles, they camp out, play the old tunes and share legends and tales of a war that is still fought in the hearts and minds of modern day natives. They unwittingly conjure up the ghosts of real combatants from 140 years past who hover on horseback on the fringes of the camp.
Malinda Blalock is furious that her hotheaded husband Keith has signed on with the Confederates. Facing conscription under a recently passed law, he could either flee to Kentucky to sign on with the Union, where his sympathies lie, or enlist, go AWOL and join the Union Army when he gets into battle. Fleeing could cost him his farm, endanger his wife, and probably find him at the end of a rope, so he decides on the latter. His wife Malinda, who can shoot and ride as well as he, and not one to sit on the sidelines and knit until her husband returns, disguises herself as a boy and sets off to join him. The pair ends up as outlaws, guiding refugees through the mountain passes and helping those left behind. Not, however, without bloodshed and hardship, as they hide out in caves in the rugged Appalachian hills. Or heartbreak, as they leave behind loved ones, including their own son, in their pursuit of justice.
Zebulon Vance, a prominent Raleigh attorney with political ambitions, is equally torn in his allegiance, but is reluctantly pulled into heading up a division of Confederate soldiers. He rises to the rank of governor of North Carolina, and we see the war through his eyes, both as a militarist and as one who must try to govern a state almost evenly divided in its loyalties.
These three historical figures exemplify the rift between brothers, friends and neighbors as the war divides a nation and threatens the future of the Union. Based on historical documents, letters and speeches, McCrumb brings these and other figures from their ghostly past into sharp focus.
Only Rattler, a reclusive backwoodsman, and Nora Bonesteel, both blessed with "the sight," sense the possibly ominous presence of a band of ghostly horsemen who appear to a few unwitting bystanders during the re-enactments.
GHOST RIDERS works as an effective device to meld the past with the present, while casting light on how the South is changing with the encroachment of Northerners who have no interest or axe to grind nearly a century-and-a-half after one of the most devastating events in American history.
Sharyn McCrumb's stature as a historical novelist grows with each succeeding book. THE SONGCATCHER, which chronicles the collection of traditional Appalachian ballads, was made into a movie, and both the book and the movie drew critical acclaim. McCrumb is also well known for her humorous Elizabeth MacPherson mysteries. GHOST RIDERS accurately brings to life the sense of place and personal conflicts of the 19th and 21st centuries.
--- Reviewed by Roz Shea
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