There are moments when conflict doesn’t arrive all at once, but settles in gradually—changing how people speak, what they trust, and how they see one another. In The Reluctant Patriot, Susan Lohafer follows that slow shift through the life of a man trying to remain unchanged.
Harrison Self’s goal is simple: stay out of the war and protect his family. He believes that neutrality will allow him to maintain the stability he has built, even as divisions form around him.
That belief begins to unravel when his son becomes connected to a Unionist conspiracy to burn Confederate railroad bridges. The consequences bring suspicion, legal action, and growing scrutiny that pulls Harry into the conflict.
Accused of treason, he must navigate military courts where outcomes depend on testimony and shifting loyalties. As trust becomes uncertain and alliances shift, he is forced to confront the reality that neutrality is no longer seen as a safe position, but as something open to interpretation.
The Reluctant Patriot tells the little known and even less taught stories of the Civil War. Lohafer tells us the tale in an authentic and engaging manner. I like how this story shows what may considered a small event in big picture is still an important piece. Often without one piece, one story, the rest of the big story won’t turn out the same.
The world, even during a war, isn’t as black and white as people believe. Who are your friends? Who will betray you? And why will they? The Reluctant Patriot gives us the characters showing how life happens, along with the consequences.
Harrison Self is a Pro-Union farmer in East Tennessee during the Civil War. Not the best idea for his safety at the time. All it takes is one mistake for the enemy to bring you down. Self ends up living and witnessing a life he never dreamed of.
Lohafer effectively conveys the suffering and complexity of life during the Civil War in this well researched and written book.
I recommend it.
Susan Lohafer is the author of The Reluctant Patriot, a historical novel based on true events from the Civil War in East Tennessee.
A graduate of Harvard University (B.A., magna cum laude), Stanford University (M.A. in Creative Writing), and New York University (Ph.D. in American Literature), she spent her academic career at the University of Iowa, where she specialized in short fiction theory and narrative structure.
Her previous books include Coming to Terms with the Short Story and Reading for Storyness: Preclosure Theory, Empirical Poetics, and Culture in the Short Story, as well as the co-edited volume Short Story Theory at a Crossroads. Her shorter works have appeared in publications such as The Southern Review, and a 2011 essay was on the ‘Notable’ list in The Best American Essays.
She lives in Tennessee.
Visit Susan at her website.
Amazon: https://bit.ly/4tKQ5zy
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55704809-the-reluctant-patriot
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