I’m currently reading…

A Difference of Purpose: A Novel of the American Civil War

by Terry Soileau

Anything to do with the Civil War pulls at my heartstrings, and I got this book for free from the author’s Kindle giveaway. I’m about halfway through and find it a quick read. The book opens with a list of the cast of characters, which puts me off just a bit, because I know at that point the character development will be lacking. As I read, I began to see the story is not told in a novel style or an historical fiction style, but more as an historian delivering just the facts. The tale is interesting, but I wish the book was told as a true drama. There is a bit of dialog, but the writer seldom indicates who said the line, leaving the reader to figure it out on his own. That being said, it is a very good story, and would have been a lot better with a substantive edit.

Blurb from Amazon

A DIFFERENCE OF PURPOSE is a civil war novel that tells the story of 12 year old Jonathan Berkeley, a Confederate drummer boy serving with the famous Orphan Brigade, and his uncle and Godfather, Alexander Wythe, an abolitionist lawyer and captain serving in the Union army. They wrestle with God and their own inner demons as they confront devastating personal tragedies and search desperately for faith, love, and meaning in a torn and tragic world of civil war. Captain Wythe is forced to question his faith when confronted with the loss of loved ones, including his wife, Amanda Wythe, and with the human suffering, inhumanity, cruelty and chaos of the American Civil War. This story of loss, sorrow, faith and redeeming love takes the reader on a fast paced journey to the bloody battlefields of Fredericksburg, Stones River, and Chickamauga, and through a tragic world of division and heartbreak. Also, featured in this novel of love and war are Abraham Lincoln, Clara Barton, the abolition of slavery, the mistreatment of American Indians, and the largest mass execution in American history