Overview

The Civil War comes to an end as the South—and the hopes of freedpeople—buckle under Reconstruction in this “powerful saga of ongoing strife” (Midwest Book Review).   A 2021 American Fiction Awards Finalist   With the Civil War finally over, Durksen Hurst sets off for Turkle, Mississippi, hoping to reclaim his deserted plantation DarkHorse. With his fiancÉe Antoinette, the two surviving freedmen who fought beside him, and a Rebel orphan at his side, he slowly makes his way through a decimated South. What they find in Turkle isn’t a warm welcome . . .    The chains of slavery have been replaced by the chains of law. Black Codes are being strictly enforced. Any former slave is considered a vagrant unless they are under an annual labor contract. And Turkle has fallen under the harsh rule of plantation owner Colonel Rutherford, who wields gun clubs as weapons to terrorize Black folks.    As Durk and Antoinette struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones, Devereau French makes a daring escape from prison after two years of incarceration by the Union army. Still driven by the ghost of a strict, unloving mother, French sets out for Turkle, an all-consuming lust for vengeance against Durk and Antoinette far from slaked.   Surviving the war was hard enough, now Durk only hopes he can survive the peace . . .    “This is a character-driven novel, and their interactions are exceptional. In this entertaining read, the reader can feel the pain and share the grief of the characters. Tension builds until the final page.” —Historical Novel Society  

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Ed Protzel grew up in St. Louis, the son of a Jewish father and a part-Cherokee mother. For a time he lived in an orphanage when his parents divorced, and left home after high school to live in St. Louis’s bohemian Gaslight Square entertainment district. These experiences gave Protzel a unique perspective, which is reflected in the traits of many of his fictional characters: outsiders and gamesters—male or female—on lonely quests, seeking justice, love, and fulfillment against society’s blindness. ​Protzel began writing both novels and screenplays while in college, working on them in his spare time while employed in securities management. He kept writing as he moved around the United States. He did some freelance work for 20th Century Studios and completed several original screenplays, one of which was optioned by a producer. But Protzel couldn’t abide what he calls Hollywood’s “hyper-Darwinism,” so he enrolled in grad school at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, where he earned his master’s in English and creative writing.

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