Heaven and Hell

This closing volume of John Jakes's North and South trilogy, first published in 1987, returns to the Main and Hazard families as they try to rebuild their lives. The story is set largely in the years from 1865 to 1868, when the South was struggling through Reconstruction after the Civil War. Each family meets new difficulties and setbacks along the way.

Jakes is known for multi-generation sagas that follow families through major turning points in American history, and this novel follows that pattern. Readers who have followed the earlier installments will find the familiar households and their intertwined fortunes carried into a new and unsettled era.