Civil War Novel Enjoys Debut Accolades on Amazon.com

May 18, 2011 - PRLog -- Civil War Novel, JENKINS: Confederate Blockade Runner is enjoying high-praise as a debut novel this sesquicentennial season.

Expanding its book distribution to Ingram’s Barnes & Noble outlets, the Civil War novel has already enjoyed six months of 5-Star praise from Amazon.com readers.

The novel, based on the true life story of Colonel C. T. Jenkins, a convicted Civil War blockade runner, was penned by his great-grand niece, publisher Emily Hill.  Ms. Hill had inherited the Colonel’s Civil War photograph album and tells fans, “I was haunted into the telling of Colonel Jenkins’ story.  As the family historian I had already gathered the family ghosts around me, and I decided that 2011 was the year to re-tell Jenkins’ great exploits.”

Historical documents tell of Jenkins’ frantic ride to the banks of the Hillsborough River where the Dade Massacre took place.  Jenkins’ inability to cross the rushing winter torrents of the Hillsborough, probably saved the rifleman’s life.  The novel begins in 1820s Victorian Baltimore, at the opulent home of Jenkins father, William V. Jenkins and takes the reader through a dramatic family history of accomplishments and tragedies.

Colonel Jenkins’ activity as a Civil War blockade runner becomes the pinnacle of the novel as he is captured and imprisoned at Fort Warren, Boston, Massachusetts.  He returns, ultimately, to his Florida home and family; but as a changed man.

Visit http://www.amazon.com/Jenkins-Confederate-Blockade-Runner... for details.

Praise for JENKINS: Confederate Blockade Runner includes:

Bob Martinez, Publisher of ‘Old Brooksville’ Brooksville, Florida
As a long-time publisher of a Florida history magazine and living only 18 miles from the Gulf coast town of Bayport, Fla., a port that was vital to the Civil War, it would naturally arouse my interest that a new novel featuring the idyllic lifestyle of that town, set in the 19th Century called "Jenkins' would be released. I was very much aware of CT Jenkins, truly a Renaissance man, who led an extraordinary life as an adventurer and hero as a blockade runner for the Confederacy.

Jenkins had also been noted as this area's first historian as well, documenting early firsts that would have been lost forever if not for him (he was one of Florida's Hernando County's first residents in 1842). Born in Baltimore in 1811, he defies his prosperous family and their business to go out on his own and finds his true soul mate with Lucy Colburn of Vermont (10 years his elder) leading to a sweeping romantic adventure with twists and turns which ultimately lead him to Florida and marrying Lucy's daughter Eliza in 1858 and to their location at Bayport.

Emily Hill succeeds in her first big novel with a wondrous tale full of suspense, intrigue, family, sorrow, pageantry and romance woven around the Civil War's center stage. Jenkins is taken prisoner and sent to Fort Warren federal prison in Boston and receives an 11th hour release. Bayport was bombed by Federal troops in 1864. Jenkins would ultimately return to Bayport and their final chapters are poignant and warm. The book's epilogue ends in St. Petersburg 1932.

What impressed me most about this novel was Hill's descriptive detail. You feel you are there with them having breakfast at Bayport on a crisp, breezy morning. Her character descriptions draw pictures and images that come alive on the page. This is an emotional book with many complex family issues. Hill's writing reminds me of Charles Frazier's Cold Mountain in its descriptive form. The book is a romantic tintype of a fascinating American life set in the 19th Century. Exhaustive research went into this. (Hill is related to CT Jenkins as well). History lovers yearning for a good story will adore this. In her first big novel, Emily Hill hits it out of the park! I look forward to more of her books in the future. Highly recommended!

Don Morrissey on Amazon
From the prologue to the marvelously written epilogue, you will be swept up into this fascinating story of C.T.'s challenging, suspense-filled adventures and ultimate survival.  A truly intriguing read !
 
David Gross on Amazon
Fascinating and true to the time and place. I was especially taken with the battle scenes. Was the author present? Any fan of American Historical fiction will find this book hard to put down until the last page is turned.

Karl Ehrlich, on Amazon:
In her masterful debut novel, Emily Hill explores the legend of her most famous relative, CT Jenkins, whose larger-than-life exploits before, during and after the Southern Rebellion, are celebrated to this day in the South, but largely forgotten in his home town of Baltimore. In chronicling the events that made CT Jenkins a hero to some and a traitor in the eyes of others,

Emily Hill is at her best when she describes the personal ordeals and aspirations of the women behind the man, sharing intimate details about their private lives gleaned from personal letters and stories passed down for generations in her family.

But, like any true family history, CT Jenkins' life story is filled with contradictions, inter-generational disputes, family heroism and cowardice, redemption and repentance.

Who was CT Jenkins? A damned Yankee, a traitor or the Confederate hero so many revere today? The answers will surprise you.

Brooksville, Florida Residents:
Today, after seeing an ad in Old Brooksville about  JENKINS: Confederate Blockade Runner, we bought a copy from the Heritage Museum.  My husband and  I are fighting about who can read  it first, He read some and now I am reading it.  But, when he comes home I will have to give it back to him!  So far it’s a great book!!...

ISBN 97809829713 JENKINS: Confederate Blockade Runner is available, in softcover format, on request at all Barnes & Noble locations, and on Amazon.com.

Visit http://www.amazon.com/Jenkins-Confederate-Blockade-Runner-1/dp/0982971303/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1305735277&sr=1-1 for details.

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A.V. Harrison Publishing features ground-breaking topics from emerging authors. Its books are distributed by Ingram, available on Amazon.com and B&N Nook. Owner, Emily Hill, invites submissions and can be contacted at info@avharrison-publishing.com.