From the Back Cover:

1865. Eighteen years after the Irish famine-ship *Star of the Sea*
docked at New York, a daughter of its journey, Eliza Duane Mooney,
sets out on foot from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on a quest that will
take her across a continent ravaged by Civil War. The stunning
intellectual Lucia-Cruz McLelland deserts New York City to cast her
fate with mercurial hero James Con O'Keeffe, convict, revolutionary,
now Governor of a Western territory. Rebel guerrilla Cole McLaurenson
fuels his own Westward mission with the blind rage of an outlaw.
Runaway slave Elizabeth Longstreet turns resentment into grace. Their
fates collide in the desolate Western township of Redemption Falls.

*Redemption Falls* is a Dickensian tale of war and forgiveness, of
strangers in a strange land, of love put to the ultimate test. Packed
with music, balladry, poetry, and storytelling, this is "a grand
polyphonous canvas [with] moments of sustained brillance which in
psychological truth and realism make Daniel Defoe look like a literary
amateur" (*Sunday Tribune*). With this riveting historical novel of
urgent contemporary resonance, the author of the bestselling *Star of
the Sea* now brings us a modern masterpiece."

I liked *Star of the Sea*, so I believed that *Redemption Falls*
would be as good or better. I was mistaken. Unless you are a
Civil War buff, I would not recommend.