A somewhat disappointing Civil War novel.  I kept waiting for the book to get going, but it kind of just poked along to the end.

On June 19, 1865, slaves in Texas finally received their freedom. The day came to be known as Juneteenth. This is more than 2 years after freedom was granted to slaves in the East. Because Texas was so isolated from the rest of the country, slave owners conspired to keep this news from their slaves as long as possible. The end of the Civil War and the arrival of Yankee soldiers finally broke the silence.

Rinaldi’s novel tells the story of one Texas rancher’s family, and of the tragic effects that slavery and the lies that were told to the slaves had on their family. The history of Juneteenth is tragic and unbelievable. Rinaldi writes an interesting book about this piece of history that I knew nothing about.