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About the Author: Richard Black
As a young man Richard Willis Black learned that a neighbor had burned his great grandparents' barn during the Civil War. Much later in life, intrigued by surviving correspondence between Speed Wilson and Harriet Willis Wilson, he located relevant documentation in the Missouri State Archives and other sources which became the basis for his historical novel. He previously published "The Complete Family Guide to Financial Aid" and is a member of the Datura Writer's Group of Oakland, California. He lives in Lafayette, California with his wife, Donna Arganbright, a potter.
Speed Wilson and Hattie Willis Wilson answered their own calling during the civil war. Arrested for harboring a Confederate recruiting officer, Speed faced the prospect of military service against his conscience or leaving Hattie with six children and crops in the field. Farmer Speed must play the surprising role of nurse to survive Gratiot Street Prison in Saint Louis, Missouri while Hattie manages farm and family through a brutal winter. Reunited, their love is challenged by the death of a newborn and the tumult of the war still raging in boarder state Missouri.