REVIEW: THE THIN GRAY LINE

One of the rewards in reading historical fiction is that it makes events and people come alive that is more inviting or personal than just reading a non-fiction history book of the event. When we humanize history, we have a better understanding of what transpired in the past.

This is quite apparent in award-winning author Michael Kenneth. Smith's The Thin Gray Line where we have a fictional tale around a young soldier, Luke Pettigrew during the American Civil War.

As we read the opening pages of the yarn, we find Luke lying awake on a bed in a stranger's farmhouse where he is stunned when he discovers that one of his legs has been amputated.

Next, we encounter Clyde and Joanie McCallister, the owners of the farmhouse where Luke is resting. Further on, we learn how Luke arrived in their home after Clyde had found him unconscious in a burned-out farmhouse, which apparently belonged to his parents. We are also informed that when Luke was brought into their home, the couple, to save his life, had no choice but to amputate his severely injured leg as there was no doctor nearby.
While he is alert, Luke recounts to the McCallisters that his combat injury occurred during the Battle of Gettysburg. He also tells them that he was in the Ambulance Corps in the Battle of Shiloh.

And that is just  the beginning. Advancing further into the narrative, we learn that  the Union forces over-ran Luke's small field hospital during the Battle of Shiloh. Consequently, he was taken prisoner to a war camp in Columbus, Ohio. Several months later he managed to escape with the help of a prominent local citizen whose house he stayed in and where he met the love of his life, Carol. Luke had promised Carol that after the war, he would return for her.

Luke's next stop after Shiloh was Gettysburg where he rode with the fearless cavalry commander Jeb Stuart. During the battle, Luke was shot off his horse resulting in the shattering of some of his bones.

Before joining the Confederate army, Luke was turfed out of his farm home by his father, after he had accidentally injured a horse that his father depended on to pull their buggy and help with other work around their farm.

While living with the McCallisters and recovering from his injuries, Luke is determined to help himself and refuses to have a peg for a leg and succeeds in crafting a workable prosthetic leg. Also during his stay, Luke meets Joanie's twin sister who one night appears in his bed and seduces him believing that he is her late husband Paul, who incidentally was Clyde's brother.

After leaving the McCallisters, Luke is determined to carry on his life and get back into action helping wounded soldiers. He sets out to rejoin the Confederate Army. While on his way to Richmond, he encounters a spy for the Union Army, who surprisingly turns out to be a woman, although she was dressed like a man. While working as a medic and during a smallpox outbreak, Luke finds a way to help the soldiers suffering from this dreadful disease. He also becomes deeply attached to a little black girl, Posey, who has lost her parents. Noteworthy is Luke's meeting with James Hanger, who was the worldwide leader in the development and manufacture of prosthetic devices, and, by the way, his company still lives on today with branches around the world. Hanger invites him to manage his factory in Richmond.

Quite simply, the story itself is thoroughly compelling, and as an excellent historical fiction story, increasingly so up to its closing pages.

The scenes come vibrantly to life as readers become absorbed into the world of the novel as they feel the downright dangerous environment and read about the grim, graphic depictions of war. Readers are also compelled to pose burning questions about all of those 'ordinary people' who were the unsung and unrecorded heroes during the Civil War. How did they live, and what did they believe? How secure were their lives? What about the blacks and their treatment by the whites? Did they live in constant fear of disease and their cruel masters? Were there individuals like Luke, who had a moral conscience and who believed in the equality of human beings? What was their impact on the war effort?

Smith is also good at down-to-earth dialogue. Listening to the exchanges between Luke, the McCallisters, Posey, Hangar, Cuff, and with others, you feel you are eavesdropping on real conversations. All of which makes the novel even more realistic. And not but not least, as with all good historical fiction, readers will learn a few things, as I did, that there was a female spy who came from Canada and was helping the Union Army?

FOLLOW HERE TO READ NORM'S INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL KENNETH SMITH