A grieving widow...
A country torn by civil war...
A handful letters professing a husband's love...
Five months after his death, the body of Sarah's husband, a Union soldier, finally comes home for burial in Philadelphia. Taylor's burial, though, rather than putting her unresolved grief to rest, begins a journey that will not just test her faith, but will plumb the depths of her devotion to her dead husband. Pushed to the edge of anger and despair, Sarah turns to the few letters sent to her by Taylor from the front lines in a desperate need to understand the guilt she feels over his death. From the bloody battlefields of Winchester and Bull Run to the quiet streets of Philadelphia, comesa tale of war and forgiveness--of a love rekindled from beyond the grave.
Professional Reviews
Love Abideth Still
Part romance and part history, "Love Abideth Still" mixes family genealogy, fiction and historical events such as the Second Battle of Bull Run. Rezer paints a grim picture of Civil War army life--much of it recorded by a volunteer from Pennsylvania in letters to his wife. Rezer's narrative is based on careful research. He also shows, quietly and sympathetically, that the lives of those left at home in Philadelphia were filled with loss. ~ J.C. Martin, AZ Daily Star, Southern Arizona Authors
Recommended
The American Civil War is raging in the background of the Scott Rezer’s novel Love Abideth Still when Sarah, his main character, gets word in 1863 that her estranged husband, Taylor, has been killed in action. When his body belatedly arrives back in Philadelphia for burial and Sarah encounters one bureaucratic tangle after another regarding his regimental pension, her frustration and anger (sensitively portrayed by Rezer as an uncomfortable but unavoidable part of her grief) prompt her to re-examine the letters Taylor sent from his time with the Union army. She had previously dismissed these letters as merely Taylor’s attempts to “aggrandize” his own actions, but gradually they come to dominate her thoughts, just as they come to dominate the action of the novel, serving as windows for extensive flashbacks to Taylor’s action-filled campaigns and encounters with several historical figures – including, most memorably, a preening, oafish Major General John Pope.
Rezer’s extensive research subtly serves to remind readers how prominent a role soldiers’ letters home play in our understanding of the human dimensions of the War Between the States, and his slow unfolding of Sarah’s growth as a person rings true. The prose can be a bit purple at times, but the book gains a very touching momentum as it moves to an unabashedly sentimental ending. Recommended. ~ Anne McNulty, Historical Novel Society Reviews November 2014
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Reviews for "Love Abideth Still: A Novel of the Civil War"
Reviewed by Lynde Rezer
11/10/2013
Downloaded Kindle as soon as I found out it was available. Couldn't wait to start. So proud of big brother and his achievements as a published writer. His 2nd book! Awesome
So far so good, love the familiar story of our ancestors written into this book.
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