by Jim Murphy
First published 2000
John Dooley marches north with the Confederate army in the summer of 1863. The nineteen-year-old lieutenant carries the hopes of the South as General Lee pushes into Pennsylvania. On the Union side, seventeen-year-old Thomas Galway prepares to defend his homeland against the rebel invasion. Both young men will converge on a small town called Gettysburg, where three days of brutal fighting will determine the fate of a divided nation. Dooley fights to preserve the Confederate cause while Galway stands with Lincoln's army to preserve the Union. Through their eyes, readers witness the chaos of battle, the courage of common soldiers, and the terrible cost of war. The story concludes with Lincoln's dedication of the National Cemetery, where the president honors the fallen with words that will echo through history.
Genres: american-civil-war, american-fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, war
Setting: Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
Period: 1863
Library Binding · Demco Media
Content warnings: violence, war