North and South by John Jakes

Part history, part novel, this book chronicles two great American dynasties over three generations. Though brought together in a friendship that neither jealousy nor violence could shatter, the Hazards and the Mains are torn apart by the storm of events that has divided the nation. ‘Superb! You will gain a firsthand knowledge of life at West Point in the early 1800s…a peek at the Texas frontier, a vacation in a posh cottage at Newport…experience the savagery of war in Mexico, suffer the suspense of both the Charleston Battery and beleaguered Fort Sumter before the mortar fire that launched a war. It has been a long time since I enjoyed a book so much.’ (The Asheville Citizen-Times)