No Holier Spot of Ground - A Texas Story is a huge, sprawling saga of Texas from 1834 to 1869. It covers the period of Texas history from the founding of the Texas Republic to the frenetic and frenzied period of the State’s history following the War for Southern Independence. As a narrative of a family’s history from its origins in South Carolina through the long trek out to Texas with slaves, it is history in a fictional garb. While the historian records what happened, the novelist tells you what it felt like. Smith has performed the dual job well. The story of the Smiths is replete with ambitious men-flawed dreadfully-strong women, devious women, dastardly men, the poignant deaths of babies, children’s dreadful accidents, Civil War casualties, and horrendous yellow fever plague, sexual peccadilloes, and much much more. A novel so large that once it draws you in, it won’t let you go, one reviewer says of it, -a book with the largeness of Lonesome Dove, as much tragedy and romance as Gone With the Wind, and enough characters to make three books or a heck of a TV miniseries.