by S. P. Somtow
First published 1997
A mysterious shaman with one eye walks among the corpse-strewn fields of Civil War Virginia. He possesses an forbidden power: the ability to call the dead back to life from their battlefield graves. His dark practice draws him into a world where historical figures become players in supernatural events. Walt Whitman witnesses the carnage and resurrection. Abraham Lincoln grapples with forces beyond politics and war. The legendary Marie Laveau, New Orleans' most feared voodoo queen, enters the conflict with her own mystical agenda. Lord Byron's presence adds another layer to the unfolding drama. The shaman's journey takes him from Virginia's blood-soaked earth to the slave markets of Haiti, where the boundaries between life and death blur further. As he continues raising the fallen soldiers, the true cost of defying death's natural order becomes clear. The Civil War provides merely the backdrop for a deeper struggle between the living and the dead, between those who would heal the nation and those who would exploit its wounds.
Genres: american-civil-war, historical-fiction, 20th-century, fantasy, supernatural, 19th-century
Vibes: dark, emotional, thought-provoking
Tropes: historical-figures, supernatural-abilities
Setting: Haiti, New Orleans, Virginia
Period: Civil War
351 pages · Paperback · Gollancz
Content warnings: death, violence