Jarrettsville by Cornelia Nixon begins in 1869, four years after the Confederate surrender and the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, in Jarrettsville, Md., just below the Mason-Dixon line. Tensions continue to run high in this town with former Confederate and Union soldiers continue to hold their prejudices and wear them on their faces and express them in their venomous words.

With tensions running high, the only possible outcome for a young love between Martha Jane Cairnes, the daughter of a Southern and loyal Confederate family, and Nick McComas, a former Union soldier and advocate of Black rights, is heartache and murder.

Nixon rips pages from events in her family history to create a novel that breaths life into the tensions following the U.S. Civil War. Despite the reunification of our nation, both sides are unwilling to let go and reconcile.

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This was a very interesting book. I found the many points of view interesting and probably would have given it 5 stars if she would have reordered the points of view. I would have left Nick for last since it was such a different take on what happened. All in all a good book. ( )

Fabulous novel! I couldn't put it down. There is history, war, romance, and even a mystery in a way. The setting is the the very end of the American Civil War when North and South are still dealing with their hatred of each other and a country is torn apart by different ideas and beliefs. Tho the war is officially over, in a small town called Jarrettsville, emotions are still running high. I loved the history in this book. Very rarely do books go into much detail about the aftermath of a war. The politics, the assassination of Lincoln, the controversies of slavery and how the freedmen are treated are all summed up in this book. The author does not gloss over it either, but really lets readers see how it must have been.

Back to Jarrettsville.. The beginning of the book starts a couple years after the war has ended when Martha walks up to Nicholas and shoots him dead. She shoots him more than once. Then she cries about it. If that doesn't get ones attention, I don't know what will.. Anyway, from the get go, you know whodunit. No mystery there. But whytheydunit remains to be seen and Ms. Nixon takes us back four years before to provide the answer. Here it becomes a tragic love story complete with family conflicts, deaths, differing opinions, nosy townfolk, and even racial tensions. Do not be put off by the sudden time change. It is expertly done. Once it goes back four years, it pretty much stays there till the very end when it goes back to the time of the murder and then into the trial. The murder and trial scenes are told from different viewpoints of people involved or nearby, but the majority of the book is told from either Martha or Nicholas' point of view.

Towards the end, you know whodunit and whytheydunit, but you must keep reading to find out what becomes of Martha. Does she go to jail? Does she hang? Does her brother take the rap for her? As I said above, I couldn't put it down.

There was even, in my opinion, a moral in the story of Martha and Nicholas. Communicate! If he had only told her his concerns and cleared the air about certain issues, so much sadness could have been avoided.

Highly recommended to historical fiction or Civil War buffs or readers that just appreciate a good book. ( )

An engrossing work of historical fiction that depicts the unique circumstances of Maryland at the end of the Civil War. ( )