Going home

Aleisha Lazario is still reeling from the sudden death of her mother, and her father has buried himself in work rather than face his own grief. Strange visions of Civil War battles draw her toward a trunk of old letters, and the papers inside reveal stories about her family's past. Her mother's presence may also be reaching into their lives from beyond. Several explanations are possible: a bronze statue cast from a melted Civil War cannonball, the restless spirit of Sylvia Lazzario, or an inherited link to the past that has survived for generations.

The letters come from Faith Davis, a woman living in the backwoods of Alabama, and Jonathan Blackwell, a captain in the Union army. Their correspondence grows into a love story, and as Aleisha reads it, she begins to find a way through her own sorrow.