The Final Chapter in Award-Winning Beyond the Wood Series Four decades after the Civil War, former Kentucky slave Victoria Richman has passed away. Among her belongings, her bereft family discovers a narrative she’s written recounting the summer of 1864 in Virginia and the Nation’s Capital. Mrs. Richman’s manuscript describes a defining year, full of fury, sorrow, dread, hate, hope and love in the lives that intersect hers: Betsy Richman Henderson tries to escape once again her demoralizing dance with a still-scheming Lucius Walthrope, even as war’s devastation trudges southward toward her Shenandoah Valley homestead. William Richman, at last a legally free man, painfully struggles to scrape away slavery’s emotional scars and remnant self-doubt. Amidst inner disarray and outer humiliation, he battles for his place in a new social order of liberty framed in 19th Century racism. Victoria herself struggles to find meaning in her new life. Thoughtful and intelligent, she resists a mundane life far from the war and its shifting purpose as she lives and chronicles the dramatic climax of the Beyond the Wood Series. Reviews: An impressively gifted storyteller, this concluding volume of a truly outstanding Civil War era trilogy by Michael J. Roueche is as extraordinary and consistently entertaining a read as his first two novels. While very highly recommended for community library Historical American Fiction collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that Tempting Skies is also available in a Kindle format…. Midwest Book Review RECOMMENDED
Roueche’s third installment in the Beyond the Wood Series completes a well-researched and interwoven narrative of the American Civil War. It once again demonstrates the award-winning author’s notable contribution to the genre. His novel, while at times complex, is nevertheless engaging and nothing is wasted. It boasts a large cast of characters who are all essential to the whole of the saga. Their strengths and weaknesses are portrayed in realistic light, each facing their own past in moments of trial and tribulation. As the novel nears its finale, surprising revelations encapsulate a tale of drama, romance, and suspense. Through it all, Roueche expertly highlights the plight of soldiers, discrimination, politics, and violence set against the backdrop of the waning days of a war-torn America. It is a worthy read. The US Review of Books Tempting Skies is a brilliant novel revealing the day-to-day, unglamorous existence during the Civil War. Showing everyone has some losses during a war, the characters become realistic through Roueche while exploring the sites, smells, and sounds of Washington City in 1864, as well as the dangers. Michael Roueche is a masterful storyteller creating a Civil War masterpiece in Tempting Skies. BestSellersWorld.com