The Civil War has come to Louisiana. Union soldiers are making advances, but slavery, and its cruelties persist. The experience of war, and its changing fortunes in 1863, are told through first-person eyes. Hannah Laveaux, a recently freed slave still living in the south, is accused of murder with only circumstantial evidence. She is supported by Florence Milton, an abolitionist from Connecticut determined to make life hell for enslavers. Pierre Cauchon is the local sheriff charged with enforcing the law, which means discounting most of what the enslaved and recently enslaved might have to say in their defense. Pierre answers to the truth, however.
There are soldiers aplenty and considerable chaos and dislocation rampant in the swamps and plantations . Marauding troops are poorly commanded and consist of more irregulars than professional soldiers. Many of the people in this story have been abused and have lashed out with deadly force at one time or another. There are chases and dangers that keep the plot moving, but just below the surface Burke has us recognize some major themes.
First, that much of the Civil War was fought over economics. A tiny wealthy class of landowners were willing to fight to the death to protect their enslaved source of labor. In so doing, owners of enslaved people degraded anyone with even tiny amounts of Black blood in their lineage. This helped ensure a class war between poor whites and Blacks that persists to this day.
Second, in times of great crisis, love is a powerful corrective.