How much can war steal from one man?
For Mac, the answer is - everything.
Aidan (Mac) MacAlister’s beloved land is sacred. He loves working the fields with his Pa, fishing the stream, hunting with friends, playing with his three sisters - until war darkens their horizon and threatens to take it all away. Mac’s Pa believes the right to defend his family’s land is God-given. His Ma teaches, Thou shalt not kill. But what is right in God’s eyes?
Mac follows his Pa into battle, and the horrors he witnesses during the war cause Mac to question all he’s ever believed. Blood on his hands and bitterness in his soul, he returns home to find his land has been taken by Union occupation forces. His one chance to reclaim his home is to fight for the side that took everything from him.
Sent West, Mac finds himself in a war against the native people who, just like him, are only trying to protect their land. His torturous journey takes him from reluctant war hero to deserter to slave to Lakota warrior.
Review from the Historical Fiction Company:
As a reader and reviewer, I always highlight the most captivating and moving passages throughout a novel,
and when the pages and pages of yellow glows in an endless stream, I know I’ve found something extraordinary. This Hallowed Ground is one of those remarkable and rare treasures you find in the mound of your to-read pile.
Mac’s heartbreaking journey and his struggle to survive in the chaos of the American Civil War is a stunning and epic page-turner with all the elements of Outlander except for the time travel bit - you have an incredible story of love, grief, extreme trauma, and soul-stirring redemption. If this book doesn’t move you to tears, I’m not sure what will, for Ms Lane reached down into her soul and pulled out the words and feelings of a soldier on the battlefield, of the crushing agony of post-traumatic depression, plus the breathtaking details of not only the horrors of the battlefield but the unbelievable will that the human body has to keep living.
Every single page of this book will leave you enraptured with plenty of moments of pause to consider not only how Ms Lane wove such beautiful passages, but it also causes you to reflect on your own life. When that happens, a book stays with you for days, weeks, perhaps forever after.
All the elements of fine fiction is present, with incredibly fleshed out characters with their Southern drawls and Scottish brogues, wrapped in a compelling storyline. Books like this one are a joy to read… but you must be prepared for tears. Plus, you will be simply astounded at the amount of research that Ms Lane put into the book, and I found myself shaking my head at moments and trying to figure out how in the world she described some of the scenes (especially the battle scenes) with such clarity. You feel as if you are sitting there in a rocking chair on the side lines watching every single bullet rip through the mounding and dying soldiers. I am reminded of one of my favorite novels - Cold Mountain by Charles Frazier - and Mac is another character that you follow through the story and pray that everything turns out all right for him. By the time you finish this novel, you know this character inside and out - and you love him for his honesty and insight about the world around him, and the confusion sometimes filling his gut.
At one point, the author refers to the biblical story of Job, and that is exactly what Ms Lane has done. She has taken the question of faith, of hope, of love, of despair, and fixed it firmly in the tumultuous savagery of the war between the States.
I highly recommend you read this book and let the words soak through to your bones.
This Hallowed Ground by Donna E. Lane receives five stars and the Highly Recommended award from The Historical Fiction Company
