Fallen Land

The opening chapter of Brown's debut novel, also a story in his award-winning collection, In the Season of Blood and Gold, is a violent introduction to the lawless days at the close of the Civil War. Young Callum is part of a roving band of Confederates led by the Colonel, now stripped of his commission for stealing. Under the Colonel's misguided control, they wander the Southern countryside, raiding and killing. At one farmhouse, Callum finds a lone girl named Ava and tries to save her from the brutish Colonel. During the melee that follows, Callum is wounded and carried off unconscious. When he wakes up, he steals the Colonel's black stallion and rides back to rescue Ava. They outfit the horse and ride southward, always on the lookout for bands of foragers but hoping to reach the rumored safety of Atlanta and the plantation of Callum's distant cousins. Ava and Callum's frantic journey toward a new life is full of danger from the oncoming winter, Ava's pregnancy, and the enraged raiders out for revenge.