Jarretsville by Cornelia Nixon
My take on Cornelia Nixon’s 2009 novel, Jarretsville, recently aired on Maryland Public Radio. An excerpt follows below and you can hear the entire review here.
“One gets to the end and asks what was it really about? The author seemed unwilling to choose which flavor should take precedent. Which is a shame, because the meat at the heart of Jarrettsville is so juicy: Nicholas McComas was not man enough for Martha Jane Cairnes and Martha Jane Cairnes was sure too much woman for him. What wonderful irony in his decision to return to Jarretsville to strut alongside his brother-soldiers in celebration of the Confederate surrender at Appomattox, only to be felled by a slip of a girl.
Damn!”