Lock Ready: A Canawlers Novel

Canawlers #3

by James Rada Jr.

War can't keep their family apart The Civil War split the United States, and now it has split the Fitzgerald Family. Although George Fitzgerald has returned from the war, his sister Elizabeth Fitzgerald remains in Washington to volunteer as a nurse. The ex-Confederate spy, David Windover, has given up on his dream of being with Alice Fitzgerald and is trying to move on with his life in Cumberland, Md. Alice and her sons continue to haul coal along the 184.5-mile-long C&O Canal between Cumberland and Georgetown. It is dangerous work during war because the canal runs along the Potomac River and between the North and South. Having had to endured death and loss already, Alice wonders whether remaining on the canal is worth the cost. She wants her family reunited and safe, but she can’t reconcile her feelings for David and her love for her dead husband. Her adopted son, Tony, has his own questions that he is trying to answer. He wants to know who he is and if his birth mother ever loved him. As he tries to find out more about his birth mother and father, he stumbles onto a plan by Confederate sympathizers to sabotage the canal and burn dozens of canal boats. He enlists David’s help to try and disrupt the plot before it endangers his new family, but first they will have find out who is behind the plot.

Genres: Historical Fiction

254 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 3, 2014

About the author

I am a multi-award-winning journalist and copywriter. I have also written a number of books, both fiction and nonfiction and plan to write even more. I work as a freelance writer in Gettysburg, PA, where I live with my wife and sons.

Reviews

[Karen Klink · Rating 3 out of 5]

Anything about the U.S. Civil War interests me and I knew nothing about the canals around Maryland during this period and thought this would make interesting reading.

It did as far as learning a little of the history goes. Plenty of somewhat interesting characters drive the story and the plot is fairly well developed, as this is the third in a series of stories on the Cumberland and Ohio canal boats that carried coal to the various towns in and around Maryland and Virginia.

Though this novel suffers from what so many do. It does not dig deep enough to put us into the time or into the emotions of the characters. We bounce along with narrative telling from character to character, from scene to scene, skimming along on the surface of things, watching it all as though from a TV or movie screen, practically never getting down inside any of the characters, never feeling their deep emotions about what is happening. Don't tell me. Show me!

There is an ocean of history out there, and so many authors snorkel us through it, and so few are willing to put the time and energy to deep dive into it. Where are those details that truly put us there?

Almost. A good start. Delve deeper and you have really got something here.

[Doug · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just finished the 3rd book of the Canawlers series "Lock Ready".I don't normally read family type stories but am an avid reader of historical fiction and wholeheartedly recommend this series for just about anybody who has an interest in either genre.I found to my surprise how much I was drawn to the Fitzgerald family and rooting for them in their trials and tribulations during very difficult times on the Potomac during the Civil War.Kudos to Mr. Rada for his effort in writing about a much overlooked subject.I look forward to reading his "October Morning" about the Flu Epidemic of 1918 very soon.