March

MARCH: Geraldine Brooks: Viking: fiction: 280 pages.

What lingers with me still, after reading Geraldine Brooks’ latest novel March, are the smells. No, not the paper and ink scent of a new book, but the acrid smoke of a Civil War battlefield, the stench of a Union hospital, and the aroma of a sultry Southern night. Ms. Brooks writes with such detail and realism that the scenes enliven the senses and sweep the reader into another time and place.

Named for Captain March, the absent father in Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women, this book chronicles his year-long journey from self-assured, idealistic chaplain to shattered, bewildered army veteran. Following Alcott’s lead, who patterned the girls of the March family after her own sisters, Brooks used Louisa’s real-life father, Bronson Alcott, as a model for her leading character. Part One of the narrative begins at the disastrous Battle of Ball’s Bluff with March struggling to write a letter home. For though he promised to write something everyday, he reflects, “I never promised I would write the truth.” Through a series of flashbacks, we learn of March’s youthful days as a Yankee peddler in the antebellum South, a guilt-plagued romance with an elegant house slave named Grace, and his brief yet passionate courtship with Marmee. In Part Two, the narrative moves to a Union hospital in Washington D.C. and switches to Marmee’s voice. Summoned to his bedside by an urgent telegram, (an event familiar to Little Women readers) Marmee cares for her almost unrecognizable husband and tries to untangle the truth behind his delirious rantings. Though I sometimes became impatient with Mr. Marchs’ moral flagellation and naïve idealism, Marmee’s character is a revelation. A woman of great courage and passion, she is zealous in her fight against slavery and far more complicated than Alcott’s domesticated depiction.

An excellent historic fiction writer, Brooks avoids 21st century sensibilities and meticulously recreates Civil War era thinking, characters, and morality. Even the writing style reflects an earlier, more formal age reminiscent of Alcott’s own work. This book is a must read for Little Women fans and historic fiction buffs will delight in the book’s portrayal of a complicated episode in America’s history. Be forewarned however, even though generations of children have enjoyed Little Women, this book is for older readers.

LG