As celebrated military adventurer Philip Kearny says at the beginning of Gilchrist's second novel set in the decades preceding the American Civil War, "It is a fact of natural history that a beautiful woman can destroy a man's life with very little effort." This tale of the real-life marriage of the wealthy Yankee and headstrong Southern belle Diana Bullitt blends narrative, period detail and vivid renderings of the ideological differences that suffused antebellum America. Gilchrist (The Good Journey
) had exclusive access to family diaries and letters, and her well-developed characters mix fact and fiction. Diana is a courageous and compassionate Kentucky-born beauty (she shoots a stampeding buffalo one day and rescues an orphaned Pawnee Indian baby the next); Philip is a callous and self-involved soldier who's seen battle from Oregon to North Africa. His impulsive proposal to Diana sets the tone for a rocky marriage; early on the couple is tested by heartache (the death of their infant daughter Susan) and Philip's sexual indiscretions. But when the intrepid soldier loses an arm during combat in Mexico, his emotional instability and continued infidelity spell doom for the union. (Philip and Diana divorced in the late 1850s, a scandalous act in Victorian times). Lively descriptions of the clothes, manners and mindset of the day elevate this dramatic tale of the destructive powers of love. (Oct.)
