Surrendering Appomattox

by Jacob M. Appel

Twenty-eight year old Horace Edgecomb, a mild-mannered and popular high school history teacher in suburban Laurendale, New Jersey, prides himself on his ability to connect with students of all backgrounds and ideologies. Yet when one of those students, Sally Royster, turns out to be the daughter of the nation’s most prominent Civil War denier, Edgecomb finds himself pressured by both Royster’s organization, Surrender Appomattox, and his own unscrupulous principal to teach the American Civil War as a theory, rather than as fact. Needless to say, he refuses. But after he outmaneuvers Royster’s father at a Board of Education meeting, Horace finds himself recruited by an old flame, Vicky Vann, now employed as a special investigator at the Treasury Department, to convert publicly to Royster’s cause and to infiltrate his organization. Surrender Appomattox’s goal, he soon discovers, is to conduct DNA testing on Abraham Lincoln’s bloody cloak to prove that the man allegedly assassinated at Ford’s Theatre was a hired actor. Horace’s plunge into conspiracy theory brings chaos to the lives of those who surround his sister, Jillian, who fears his notoriety may prevent her from adopting a child; his roommate, Sebastian, who hijacks Horace’s first press conference to market his own line of blasphemous coloring books depicting the prophet Mohammed; Sebastian’s “inamorata,” Esperanza, who studies normative prosopography—the art of reading the truth from people’s facial musculature; and Sebastian’s friend, Albion, a schizophrenic poet who pens obscene limericks and haiku in Horace’s living room. Yet as Horace becomes increasingly steeped in Surrender Appomattox’s plans, he also finds himself attracted to eighteen year old Sally, an interest that clouds his judgment and leads him to a crisis of historical faith. Ultimately, he must choose between Vicky Vann and Sally Royster, and in doing so, between those who revere the Civil War as a hallowed and unifying moment in our nation’s past, and those who believe the conflict to be nothing more than a hoax concocted to serve a political agenda. PRAISE “Combining mystery, intrigue, and satire, Appel’s novel is a warning about how far our society has fallen down the rabbit hole of fake news and alternative facts.” —Robert Repino, author of Morte “Jacob Appel’s Surrender Appomattox is vivid, irreverent, funny, and provocative. Through characters as sympathetic as they are quirky, Appel poses questions about history that are particularly relevant for our present day. How do we know what we know? In an age of overwhelming information, which facts should we trust? How does history become weaponized, and to what ends? The novel’s extraordinary plot will not fail to entertain you, and its insight will haunt you long after you’ve turned the final page.” —Lindsay Starck, author of Noah’s Wife “A genuine page-turner that somehow also manages to be laugh-out-loud funny in nearly every scene, Surrendering Appomattox captures something essential about the afflictions of American society in the age of “alternative facts.” The rare combination of suspense, trenchant satire, and madcap humor is reminiscent of another diagnostic masterpiece, Graham Greene’s Our Man in Havana. You don’t want to miss this novel!” —Tim Weed, author of Will Poole’s Island

274 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 8, 2021

About the author

**Please note: A limited number of complimentary electronic copies of several of my books are available for review. Please email me directly if you are interested**

Jacob M. Appel's first novel, The Man Who Wouldn't Stand Up, won the Dundee International Book Award in 2012. His short story collection, Scouting for the Reaper, won the 2012 Hudson Prize. He has published short fiction in more than two hundred literary journals including Agni, Conjunctions, Gettysburg Review, Southwest Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and West Branch. His work has been short listed for the O. Henry Award (2001), Best American Short Stories (2007, 2008), Best American Essays (2011, 2012), and received "special mention" for the Pushcart Prize in 2006, 2007, 2011 and 2013.

Jacob holds a B.A. and an M.A. from Brown University, an M.A. and an M.Phil. from Columbia University, an M.S. in bioethics from the Alden March Bioethics Institute of Albany Medical College, an M.D. from Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons, an M.F.A. in creative writing from New York University, an M.F.A. in playwriting from Queens College, an M.P.H. from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He currently practices psychiatry in New York City.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

CATCH 44

I had just written a legal thriller set in 1887 Washington D. C., and much of my plot hinged upon the place where Abe Lincoln was assassinated, although it was then being used as a medical museum for the U. S. Army. Another crucial element of my plot was a fraud perpetrated on veterans of the Civil War.

Flash-forward to this book, this blasphemous and hilarious piece of satire by one of my favorite authors, Jacob M. Appel. I read it because it had a Civil War theme, but when I completed it, Appel had me feeling the way I had the morning Donald J. Trump took the Oath of Office. "This can't be happening!" was what I was thinking, in both instances.

They say it takes a pretty developed right hemisphere of the brain to appreciate humor. Well, after reading Surrendering Appomattox, the right hemisphere of my brain has taken over, and I am speechless. All I can see is history teacher Horace Newcomb, struggling to save his sanity, fighting an existential civil war against a narcissistic Department of the Treasury, represented by his high school crush, Vicky Vann, and the carnival barker voice of the group leader he is recruited to spy on, Roland Royster.

As Horace's marijuana-smoking roommate and Mohammed the Prophet Coloring Book entrepreneur, Sebastian Borrelli, tells him at one point, "It's a catch 44." Funny he says that because my already-exercised right hemisphere was comparing Appel's characters with some of Joseph Heller's "Catch 22" folks. Appel has created some of the most "laugh-out-loud" zanies (which, by the way, during the Civil War meant "homosexuals") I have ever followed inside a piece of literature.

Make no mistake. This is literature is on "high octane," for the Twenty-first Century, hearkening back to Swift’s "A Modest Proposal.” Jacob M. Appel's Surrendering Appomattox is the perfect satirical antidote for these horrific Trumpian Times.

[Suzanne Jung · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mildly…

I am mildly disappointed in this book for this reason.
This man is so accomplished and capable it is astonishing and yet
he seems to founder in early to late teenage angst. He appears to be trying to work through the utter unfairness of his astoundingly varied accomplishments which still don’t allow him to grow beyond a stew of confusingly unfulfilling relationships.
Once he grows through this, I imagine the guy’s ability to tell a mature story might do him justice. He has all the right pieces, imho.

[Shaun · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining satire of historical revisionism! The cast of characters is varied and idiosyncratic which makes the character development very well done. We follow Horace Edgecomb but each of the other main characters in the book could have their own novel with interesting backstory's. But the character building with the humor and you have yourself a novel that's hard to put down.

[angelofmine1974]

No stars DNF

My review of this book can be found on my YouTube Vlog at:

https://youtu.be/pi6HW2YDiNc

Enjoy!

[Grant Dominguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like if Catch-22 and Eddington had a baby