This Scorched Earth by William Gear

This Scorched Earth by William Gear

An amazing tour de force depicting a family's journey from devastation to rebirth following the American Civil War, from New York Times bestselling author William Gear.

The Hancocks of Arkansas were true American pioneers: tough, enterprising, eager to make their own destinies.

Then came the Civil War, the deadly, murderous conflict that sundered the bonds between brothers, destroyed most of a generation, and cast the Hancocks to the winds.

Against this bloody backdrop, filled with the ravages of war and the struggle to rebuild, William Gear draws his readers irresistibly into the hopes, dreams, and despairs of the Hancock siblings: Philip, the doctor whose life is destroyed upon his return home; Butler, the teacher whose path leads to mysticism and insanity; Billy, who fails to protect his mother and sister and, in his guilt, becomes a monster; and Sarah, the stunning beauty who flees West to reinvent herself after surviving a brutal attack.

Through the tragedies and triumphs of a single family, this sprawling epic shows how ordinary people deal with unimaginable devastation, and how the bonds of family can never truly be broken.