The dichotomy between the way Emma's father reared her and what she knew in her own heart to be true is the conflict that makes this book interesting. Fiction set in the civil war South tends to romanticize or demonize the characters. But Ms. Gibbons offers a realistic cast of three dimensional characters who as in life; are neither completely good nor entirely evil. Her depictions of twisted family relationships are hauntingly accurate. Is it possible that the author has met my family?