A Hundred Crickets Singing by Cathy Gohlke … and a GIVEAWAY!

Welcome to Friday Reads!

 

You can enter to win a print copy of A Hundred Crickets Singing by Cathy Gohlke, courtesy of the publisher. (US ONLY!) Click To Tweet You can enter by using the Rafflecopter link at the bottom of this post. (Contest ends May 27, 2022.) If you’re the chosen winner, I’ll contact you for your information to pass along.

 

About A Hundred Crickets Singing…

In wars eighty years apart, two young women living on the same Appalachian estate determine to aid soldiers dear to them and fight for justice, no matter the cost.
1944. When a violent storm rips through the Belvidere attic in No Creek, North Carolina, exposing a hidden room and trunk long forgotten, secrets dating back to the Civil War are revealed. Celia Percy, whose family lives and works in the home, suspects the truth could transform the future for her friend Marshall, now fighting overseas, whose ancestors were once enslaved by the Belvidere family. When Marshall’s Army friend, Joe, returns to No Creek with shocking news for Marshall’s family, Celia determines to right a long-standing wrong, whether or not the town is ready for it.

1861. After her mother’s death, Minnie Belvidere works desperately to keep her household running and her family together as North Carolina secedes. Her beloved older brother clings to his Union loyalties, despite grave danger, while her hotheaded younger brother entangles himself and the family’s finances within the Confederacy. As the country and her own home are torn in two, Minnie risks her life and her future in a desperate fight to gain liberty and land for those her parents intended to free, before it’s too late.

With depictions of a small Southern town “reminiscent of writings by Lisa Wingate” (Booklist on Night Bird Calling), Cathy Gohlke delivers a gripping, emotive story about friendship and the enduring promise of justice.

 

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 BOOKS IN BATTLE

~How Stories Helped Win Wars~

by Cathy Gohlke

                                               

Before the advent of technology that allows soldiers to carry e-readers in their pockets, printed books provided the cheapest, most convenient, and most desired form of portable entertainment in the armed services.

During the American Civil War, most soldiers on both sides of the conflict made sure their saddlebags or rucksacks included at least one volume to read and trade. It was understood that you didn’t keep a novel to yourself. As soon as you finished reading it, you’d find someone to trade with, no matter the state of the book—bent, dog-eared, smudged with blood or grime.

They were words on paper, a story that could transport the mind from the lonely, filthy, muddy, freezing or mosquito-infested world of war to a different place, a different time—a place and time they may never have seen or may not live to see again, but in which they could live and breathe within the pages of a book.

One of the most popular books among soldiers during the American Civil War, featured in A Hundred Crickets Singing, was Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables. Published in five volumes, the book was highly transportable and easy to trade. Sadly, that trading often meant that the story was not read in the order written. Still, soldiers identified closely with the subjugated and impoverished French.

Ironically, the two armies related to the story in very different ways. While Union soldiers saw slavery in the South as despicable and fought to free the enslaved from the tyranny of those who owned them, Confederate soldiers felt themselves subjugated and impoverished in their pursuit for states’ rights. So strong was this conviction that soldiers of Lee’s army sometimes referred to themselves as “Lee’s Miserables.”

Les Misérables was printed in English and available in America. However, West & Johnson of Richmond printed their own edition with this chilling preface:

It is proper to state here, that whilst every chapter and paragraph in any way connected with the story has been scrupulously preserved, several long, and it must be confessed, rather rambling disquisitions on political and other matters of a purely local character, of no interest whatever on this side of the Atlantic, and exclusively intended for the French readers of the book, have not been included in this reprint. A few scattered sentences reflecting on slavery—which the author, with strange inconsistency, has thought fit to introduce into a work written mainly to denounce the European systems of labor as gigantic instruments of tyranny and oppression—it has also been deemed advisable to strike out. With those exceptions—and they are after all but few and unimportant—the original work is here given entire. The extraneous matter emitted has not the remotest connection with the characters or the incidents of the novel, and the absence of a few anti-slavery paragraphs will hardly be complained of by Southern readers.—A. F.

In every war that followed, books from home brought comfort, solace, and escape. Soldiers looked upon them almost like letters or brief visits from home and were reminded of the good they fought to sustain and the hope of what they might return to.

Just as the United States entered WWII (in the years of Night Bird Calling), there came the realization that libraries on the posts of the armed services were sorely lacking. That meant soldiers in training or going into battle had little to carry with them for entertainment, diversion, or comfort. A call went out to civilians around the country to donate books for soldiers—a call that Lilliana and Celia gladly answered from their home lending library at Garden’s Gate in No Creek, along with millions of other Americans.

Later in the war (1943), the War Department instituted its own program to print lightweight paperbacks that could fit in a pocket or rucksack for easy mobility—known as pocketbooks—on subjects of interest to servicemen. Among the most popular were A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith and Chicken Every Sunday by Rosemary Taylor with their wholesome tales of life on the home front. Again, they reminded soldiers of all they fought to preserve and what they hoped to return to.

Authors and publishers alike were swamped with letters from grateful servicemen who thanked them for helping them make it through the war. The escape, the distraction in times of high tension, and the companionship of good books made a world of difference to soldiers during wartime . . . just as they do now for all of us.

 

My review…

I’ve enjoyed Gohlke’s prior books, and this book was no exception. I do suggest reading Night Bird Calling first, as this is a continuation of that story, though it could be read as a standalone.

The author’s latest release is full of characters working to overcome obstacles, and the faith element is woven throughout. Racism and prejudice are key themes in the story, which is dual-timeline novel (Civil War and WWII). Both storylines are well written with well-developed characters who long to see justice served. Themes of learning to view others as God sees them and loving others are also key. The faith element is woven throughout and isn’t overpowering. This is a good choice for fans of historical fiction.

Disclaimer: I receive a complimentary copy, but I wasn’t required to leave a positive review.

 

About Cathy…

 

Four-time Christy and two-time Carol and INSPY Award–winning author Cathy Gohlke writes novels steeped with inspirational lessons from history. Her stories reveal how people break the chains that bind them and triumph over adversity through faith. When not traveling to historic sites for research, she and her husband, Dan, divide their time between northern Virginia and the Jersey Shore, enjoying time with their grown children and grandchildren.

 

Visit her website at cathygohlke.com and find her on Facebook at CathyGohlkeBooks.

 

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