Other Fiction · 2026 · Historical fiction

Stones River

Beneath a Divided Sky

Synopsis

They grew up working the same land. Now each wears the uniform the other has been ordered to fight.

On a Tennessee farm beside Stones River, brothers Caleb and Stanford once measured their differences in small arguments over fence rails, photographs, and the world beyond their fields. But as secession divides the country, those differences become decisions neither can take back.

Caleb joins the Confederacy, believing he must defend his home. Stanford chooses the Union, convinced the nation must hold together. Each leaves believing he understands what loyalty requires. Neither is prepared for what it will cost.

When war reaches Murfreesboro, the familiar countryside becomes a battlefield. In the cedar thickets and smoke along the river, the brothers fight on opposing sides, unaware of how close they stand to their own blood.

Then Jezzie, the woman Caleb loves, is arrested for passing information to Confederate scouts. Stanford learns she is being held in the same makeshift infirmary where he tends the wounded. Suddenly, the distance between duty and family is no wider than a closed door.

As their father falters and their mother struggles to keep the farm standing, both brothers must confront a question no flag can answer for them: What must a man refuse to do, even for a cause he believes is right?

An intimate historical novel of divided loyalties, love, and the difficult work of remaining human when conviction turns brother against brother.