"He survived the war to save the nation, now he must survive its Reconstruction ... and his own inner war.... An intriguing historical romance set in Reconstruction Virginia. Flawless revelation of that time and place. " - Ron Andre, A Matter of Fancy In 1869 Virginia, three women mourning a little girl turn for comfort to Louis, a Union veteran and foreman of a family-owned granite quarry. Louis falls in love with the child's aunt, and his employer, but she is married, virtuous - unattainable. Seeking means to wed elsewhere, he brings a law suit against a cousin who ruined his father. The suit stirs up dead causes and deadly chicanery, while his relations with the mother and sister of the girl child grow dangerously intimate. Rooted in the beloved homeland whose cause he fought against with all his heart, Louis yearns for a woman who cannot be his and for a life that war and time have forever undone.