North and South (1982 novel)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (November 2007)
Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

North and South, is a 1982 novel written by John Jakes. It is the first part of the North and South trilogy. The next book Jakes wrote was Love and War.

[edit] Plot summary

The book begins with a prologue giving a detailed explanation of how the Hazard and Main family end up in the American colonies.

Two young men, George Hazard from Pennsylvania, and Orry Main from South Carolina, meet on their way to the United States Military Academy. They soon become close friends who frequently confront their regional differences within the frame of their friendship. During their time at West Point, Orry and George meet up with a sadistic cadet named Elkanah Bent from Ohio, who constantly torments the two companions. In time, Orry, George and a couple of other cadets enable Bent's expulsion from West Point.

Eventually, Orry and George graduate from West Point and become officers in the United States Army during the Mexican-American War. On a stopover in Texas on the way to Mexico, George courts a young Irish woman named Constance. George and Orry end up in the Battle of Vera Cruz, where Orry is badly wounded in the arm, resulting in its amputation. Orry is sent home after the battle, but George stays instead.

When George is released from the Army due to the death of his father, he and Constance return to George's home in Pennsylvania and marry. George and Orry eventually meet up again and resume their friendship as tensions strengthen between the North and South. Soon, Orry's sister Brett falls in love with George's brother Billy. Later, Billy and Orry's cousin Charles are classmates at West Point.

In 1858, as Orry is planning a trip to Pennsylvania, Brett begs Orry to take her with him so they can continue to St. Louis, where Billy is stationed with the Army Corps of Engineers. On the train back to South Carolina, the train is stopped by raiders under the command of the radical abolitionist, John Brown at the town of Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, then part of the state of Virginia. Brett and Orry are not harmed by John Brown's men, and are sent on their way to Pennsylvania.

Two years after the Mains and the Hazards rendezvous in Pennsylvania, Billy joins the U.S. Army as the American Civil War draws near. He is stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, at Major Robert Anderson's garrison at Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor, only a few miles away from the Main plantation. Billy is leave and marries Brett late one night. That same night, Confederate forces under the command of Brigadier General P.G.T. Beauregard open fire on Fort Sumter, setting off the Civil War. So, Orry and George say their final good-bye before the war, hoping for the best for each other.

The book is followed by the novels Love and War and Heaven and Hell.