The Walk Into Morning

Lyrical prose and moving characters enliven this first novel, which examines Louisiana cira 1862 from the perspectives of several slaves. Chad Creel, the secretly educated favored companion of the master's children, dreams of escaping to freedom with his friend and teacher ``Uncle'' Blake. After Blake is forced to flee alone, Chad runs away to join the Union Army. House slave Anna, gruffly loving Chad, runs away, too. They meet up, of course, and Chad discovers love with Anna. They make it to Union-occupied New Orleans, and with the help of the city's free blacks, find positions--Anna in a convent, Chad at a Negro newspaper. Determined to fight for his freedom, Chad joins the Army and finds that war is barbarity, no matter the cause. Anna, pregnant, returns to her owners as a paid servant, to wait for Chad. Blake, a Union spy, is haunted by the paradox of being accepted on his own merits by various Union generals while hearing his race openly derided. Impressively wrought with effective images (in a doubtful moment, Chad must ``shoo away all the what-ifs that bit at him like hungry gnats''), the story flows naturally from the characters' thoughts, actions and conversations. Quotes from poet Langston Hughes are grace notes, while those from actual Civil War writings deliver a more authentic flavor. (Feb.)