March by Geraldine Brooks

"If a war can ever be said to be just, then this war is so; it is action for a moral cause, with the most rigorous of intellectual underpinnings. And yet everywhere I turn, I see injustice done in the waging of it. And every day, as I turn to what should be my happy obligation of opening my mind to my wife, I grope in vain for words with which to convey to her even a part of what I have witnessed, what I have felt. As for what I have done, and the consequences of my actions, these I do not even attempt to convey."
                                                       -Mr. March, from the novel

After reading Caleb's Crossing by this author, I wanted to read more of her work. When I saw that March won the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for fiction, it was the obvious choice.  I really liked it but perhaps a bit less than Caleb's Crossing. I will still rate it a 5. As an historical fiction of the Civil War era it was quite unique in that it ties into the classic Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Most of the story is told by the father of the "little women"---Jo, Meg, Beth and Amy---who is away from home, involved in the war as an army chaplain. In the book he is known only as Mr. March. The author's style includes good use of flashbacks, first person narration of action by March and his letters home to his wife, Marmee. It really made me want to reread Little Women---it has been MANY years and I don't remember much of the plot.

The setting is 1861 at the start and the story moves around to battle sites, a plantation in the south, a military hospital in Washington, DC, and back to the March family home in Concord, MA, where they are friends of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson. The reader learns that the March family home has been a station on the Underground Railroad and they have helped numerous "packages" to their freedom. Most of the story is told by March but near the end, the perspective changes to Marmee's and it was bit confusing at first.

There were references to John Brown which were familiar to me but I found it interesting how the Marches became involved with his crusade. I did not know that the Union took over plantations in the South where they farmed with "contraband labor," slaves by another name.

At the end of the novel, March is suffering with a great deal of guilt about the experiences he has had. Today I think we would call it PTSD.

The Afterword fascinated me as the author told how she based the main character on Alcott's own father, who left behind his journals and letters. Her research is amazing.

Of course, I love historical fiction so March was right up my alley! I will look forward to reading another by Geraldine Brooks, perhaps Year of Wonders.