A Southern Woman

Fine characterization and an action-packed plot overcome the stylistic problems of this first novel set in Frisbin, Tenn., at the outset of the Civil War. When narrator Liz Ann Allen marries handsome Joe Crocker, his impulsive decision to enlist in the Union Army leads most of the town, including Liz Ann's family, to label her an enemy. She and her infant daughter are rescued from starvation by prominent social renegade Ama Hadley, in whose household she finds refuge and unconventional friendships with black women. Raped by her maimed husband's murderers, Liz Ann eventually goes on trial for shooting one of them. Readers will sympathize with the central female characters--especially since the brutality of many of the male characters is graphically portrayed--but Eulo chronicles their experiences with an unsure hand. Her rendering of Southern dialect is effective only intermittently, and passages of openly sexual dialogue seem anachronistic in the mouths of women of that period. Nonetheless, the lively blend of several genres--historical fiction, romance, courtroom drama and western--makes for an entertaining narrative. ( Mar. )