Scarred

A Civil War Novel of Redemption

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Pub Date 30 Aug 2016 | Archive Date 07 Nov 2016

Description

After fatally shooting the Confederate sharpshooter who had killed his best friend, Zach Harkin’s sense of revenge changes to deep remorse when he views the dead man’s diary and photo. Haunted and unable to serve, he is mustered out of service and begins an epic journey to search for the dead man’s family. He is captured, imprisoned, tortured and thoroughly tested as a human being, but after escaping, he never expects to find love.

After fatally shooting the Confederate sharpshooter who had killed his best friend, Zach Harkin’s sense of revenge changes to deep remorse when he views the dead man’s diary and photo. Haunted and...


A Note From the Publisher

Michael Kenneth Smith trained as a mechanical engineer and began a successful auto parts business which he sold in 2000. His award-winning first novel, HOME AGAIN, was published in 2014. Learn more at http://www.michaelkennethsmith.com/

Michael Kenneth Smith trained as a mechanical engineer and began a successful auto parts business which he sold in 2000. His award-winning first novel, HOME AGAIN, was published in 2014. Learn more...


Advance Praise


“Michael Kenneth Smith’s absorbing historical novel explores the violence and moral dilemmas endured by civilians, prisoners, and soldiers alike during the bloody Civil War….Harkin is a vibrant protagonist who grows increasingly sympathetic throughout. Meanwhile, Scarred’s pace is nearly cinematic… This, however, isn’t a war novel; it’s the story of Harkin’s quest for redemption and closure. Historical fiction and Civil War buffs will wish Scarred were closer to the epic length of Gone with the Wind, simply because the subject never grows tiresome….an engrossing, moving read.”-- BlueInk Review


“This lean Civil War sequel packs in more history and raw emotion than a 600-page epic….Smith writes wonderfully and realistically, and one can hear the pacing and menace:… Smith knows the Civil War in his bones....”--Kirkus Reviews


“This is a novel not just about the Civil War - or even war itself – but rather an examination of the layered scars of trauma laid down by months and years spent in the battlefield. Ultimately it is a story about the human heart and how love and friendship heals and maybe even redeems.”—Rafael Lima, Professor, University of Miami, School of Communication


“Smith is a master of description and dialogue. . . . In a long weekend, one could read Scarred all the way through and feel rewarded by the familiarity of characters, enhanced knowledge of the Civil War and excellent writing.”—Jill Zima Borski, Board chair, Florida Outdoor Writers Association, and author of Know That I Have Lived, a memoir in essays


“ . . . a haunting love story . . . . keeps the reader turning pages, rooting for this man who finds himself trapped between the North and South and only wanting peace.”—Susannah Carlson, author of Picnic Point











“Michael Kenneth Smith’s absorbing historical novel explores the violence and moral dilemmas endured by civilians, prisoners, and soldiers alike during the bloody Civil War….Harkin is a vibrant...


Marketing Plan

Scarred is a sequel to Home Again but works equally well as a stand alone.
Scarred is a sequel to Home Again but works equally well as a stand alone.

Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9781530379743
PRICE $12.99 (USD)

Average rating from 3 members


Featured Reviews

Scarred: A Civil War Novel of Redemption by Michael Kenneth Smith is literary fiction. I gave it five stars.

Virginia -- 1863 "The scope's spider lines centered on the man's head and Zach Harkin squeezed the trigger. Blood and bone splattered against the tree as the gunshot echoed through the forest.

Zach climbed the tree and stared at the dead man whose lower jaw had been blown away. This same sharpshooter had shot his best friend the day before. His upper torso leaned against the tree in a sitting position, both legs splayed out in front of him. His eyes were still open, and Zach felt as if they were looking directly at him with a shocked expression. He searched and found the man's logbook. As he flipped through, he found the last entry for the day before:

Shot a man on the other side of the river. He was on picket duty. Poor bastard. Two more days and I'm on two-week leave to go home. Seems like an eternity since I've seen her."

A photograph of a beautiful woman fell from between the pages. He kept both the picture and the book. "His thirst for revenge had turned to guilt and the need for redemption."

Zach was discharged because he was overcome with guilt and could no longer shoot. He sat at home doing nothing. After a fight with a former friend, he left home with no note left behind. He decided to travel to meet the woman in the photograph.

On the way he was captured and shot. He ended up in Andersonville Prison. After a beating he was taken to Sumter Hospital. The conditions there were abominable with no food rations and overcrowding. He learned that Captain Wirz was just a figurehead with no real authority. Zach was determined to escape.

The story is told with the device of Chris Martin, a journalist getting Zach's story for publication in the New York World. Joseph Pulitzer didn't want to hear the truth about Colonel Wirtz. Chris was unwilling to fabricate a story. It's well done with flashbacks and flashforwards, a technique I don't always like.

I received a kindle copy from Amazon Digital Services LLC and NetGalley. That did not change my opinion for this review.

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This book was one of the best historical fiction books, set in the Civil War, that I have read in recent history. I was blown away by the author's writing style, and the way he was able to bring these characters and this time period to life.
The novel centers around a Union sharp shooter named Zach Harkin, who ends up losing his will to continue killing when he comes across the logbook of the man he shot, and reads about the man's life, family, and a picture of the woman the man loved and had left behind in the war. Zach has the intense desire to make amends for killing this man, and ends up setting across the country in order to find the woman in the picture, and to somehow make amends. This leads to a series of events that drastically change the mans life. He ends getting captured by the Confederates, and ends up at Libby prison, and then the worst prison of the war, Andersonville. When Zach returns home, he will not open up to anyone, and he has a young boy with him. A reporter named Chris Martin is interested in finding out about what happened during the years Zach was gone.
I was fascinated by this novel, and completely drawn to Zach's character. I've read a couple of books that took place in Andersonville Prison, and it's hard not to get emotional when learning about what the soldiers went through there, and how many died due to the neglect and abuse allowed by General Wirz. The American Civil War has always held a great deal of interest for me, so I am open to reading most books that are set during this time period. I am happy that I was given the chance to read this one through Negalley, because it was a terrific novel, and I definitely struggled to put it down. I 100% recommend that fans of this time period or of literary fiction in general, pick this book up. It is a solid FIVE out of FIVE stars in my opinion.

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