Lorena

by Frank G. Slaughter

Avec les derniers mois de la guerre de Sécession et derrière Atlanta en flammes, c'est partout la ruine des terres dévastées. La chance légendaire des Selby protégera-t-elle jusqu'au bout la plantation que le fougueux et égoïste Brad Selby est incapable de gérer ? Il fait la guerre dans les rangs des Sudistes avec une témérité et une bravoure folles. Sa femme, Lorena, appartient à la douloureuse cohorte des mal-mariées. Elle s'est profondément attachée pourtant à la plantation qu'elle dirige habilement et veut garder intact ce domaine qui a pris son coeur. Ses voisins la blâment parce qu'elle est plus juste et plus humaine à l'égard de ses esclaves noirs qu'il n'est de tradition. En ces temps troublés, où, pour beaucoup, la ligne droite est malaisée à discerner, qui l'emportera du devoir pénible ou du désir de bonheur ?

Genres: Fiction, Romance, Historical, Historical Fiction, American Civil War

316 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1959

About the author

Frank Gill Slaughter , pen-name Frank G. Slaughter, pseudonym C.V. Terry, was an American novelist and physician whose books sold more than 60 million copies. His novels drew on his own experience as a doctor and his interest in history and the Bible. Through his novels, he often introduced readers to new findings in medical research and new medical technologies.

Slaughter was born in Washington, D.C., the son of Stephen Lucious Slaughter and Sarah "Sallie" Nicholson Gill. When he was about five years old, his family moved to a farm near Berea, North Carolina, which is west of Oxford, North Carolina. He earned a bachelor's degree from Trinity College (now Duke University) at 17 and went to medical school at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. He began writing fiction in 1935 while a physician at Riverside Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida.

Books by Slaughter include The Purple Quest, Surgeon, U.S.A., Epidemic! , Tomorrow's Miracle and The Scarlet Cord. Slaughter died May 17, 2001 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Reviews

[Luckngrace · Rating 3 out of 5]

For my favorite genre, Civil War HF, this one was just okay. It was mostly a romance, featuring characters who faired much too well in a time when NOBODY got by unscathed. Good entertainment, but not too useful if you're looking for realistic HF.

[Phyllis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Civil war story of beautiful, intelligent, hard-working plantation owner with her jerk husband who is a leader in the Confederacy. Well written story of the changes in everyone's life near the end end of and following the Civil War. Could be classified as historical fiction. Surprise ending.

[Jose Antonio · Rating 3 out of 5]

Encontré esta novela por casualidad abandonada por su anterior dueño en la calle y yo, que no puedo evitar ser un poco un Diógenes de los libros, me la llevé. Meses después me animé a empezar a leerla, dándole una oportunidad de 40 o 50 páginas. No pude dejarla y la terminé, lo que habla bastante a su favor. Quizá no sea gran literatura, pero merece la pena y se lee muy bien. El libro que recogí de la calle pertenece a la famosa Colección Reno de Plaza & Janés y mi edición es de 1970.
Se trata de una novela histórica que cuenta el amor imposible entre una dama sureña malcasada y un militar norteño que ocupa sus tierras durante las postrimerías de guerra de Secesión norteamericana y la inmediata posguerra en una plantación de Georgia. Puede parecer un folletín, pero consigue mantener el interés durante sus 315 páginas. Uno de los puntos a favor de la novela es que no es una simple historia de amor imposible. Es interesante como retrata el Sur esclavista y cómo nos introduce en el nacimiento del Ku Klux Klan.
La recomiendo para los interesados en ese momento histórico. Se lee con fluidez e interés.

[Floqueta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read many years ago, but I remember it, as I liked it a lot. I had the paperback, but I lost it. If the opportunity arises, I would re-read this book.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

This 1959 historical novel turned out to be surprisingly good. The first half is about Lorena of the book's title, a plucky Georgia plantation wife who keeps her world together during Sherman's march by grit and a willingness to adapt. For example, she agrees to let Union troops billet on her property, in exchange for them not burning down her house, in contrast to neighboring landowners whose pride led them to lose everything.

The second half takes place about 3 years after the war and serves as a parable of Reconstruction. Lorena continues to thrive by working with Northern friends, poor Southern whites and freedmen, all while her neighbors continue to suffer in bitter delusion that the South will Rise Again. Meanwhile, as they sell off parts of their land to stay afloat, Lorena's stubborn white neighbors join the Klan and work to bring back slavery in all but name. The book ends with a satisfying battle between occupying troops and the Klan. Overall, the book compares well with other novels sympathetic to Reconstruction like those of Albion Tourgee.

[Dee · Rating 3 out of 5]

read this in high school....romanticized version of war, more about southern belle falls in love with yankee

[Valine · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was another goodwill find. a no-brainer romance that is fairly unoffensive, set during the civil war. Lorena is the leading character who keeps her place together during the war. But of course falls for a yankee, shockingly enough she is married to a jerk of a husband, who is a southerner. Quick read

[Lorena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick easy romance read. Some details, for a modern reader, are hard to swallow; Feminism and Civil Rights still being in infancy at the time it was written- 1950's.