After penning a highly praised trio of Civil War novels - The Black Flower (1997), The Year of Jubilo (2000), and The Judas Field (2006) - Bahr turns to the 1940s and a close-knit group of railroad men. Bahr, a former railroad man himself, is intimately familiar with that world ('an alien, masculine world with a language all its own') and here deploys many lovingly detailed passages describing the mechanics and machinery. A. P. Dunn, engineer on a freight train, has been suffering from memory loss, but his crew is reluctant to confront him because of his loyal service and his generous mentoring of the younger men; meanwhile, Artemus Kane, a conductor on a deluxe passenger train who is also a World War I vet haunted by his battle experiences, wonders if he has finally met a woman he can commit to. Due to a series of miscommunications, the two trains seem to be on a collision course in spite of the crews' long years of experience and dedication to their work. Running right underneath the suspenseful narrative is a beautifully wrought view of the world as a lonely and unforgiving place."" - Joanne Wilkinson, Booklist."". . .re-creates this seminal moment in American history with prose that is vivid, unflinching, and often incantatory. . .Howard Bahr's accomplishment is magnificent."" - Washington Post BookWorld."". . .a mature work of fiction by a gifted writer affectingly eloquent and fearless of complexity and ambiguity. . .Bahr is a writer with a fluent lyric facility, subtly ensuring that the brutality of his narrative events never becomes numbing. . .a beautifully wrought novel that deserves a wide audience."" - Los Angeles Times.""[Bahr] is a true poet of weather, of night, and of time. . .Not since James Agee has someone made the southern night so alive, so intimate, so orchestral. . .Along with the sweeping, cinematic story of rebellion, loyalty, revenge, and reawakened romance, Bahr's evocation of place and time is the most enduring achievement of the novel."" - New York Times
