Charon's Daughter

Shannon Lahey is determined to avenge her murdered students and test her own bravery by accepting the President's mission to destroy a Southern cabal. Rejected earlier by Cambridge dons for a faculty position because she is a woman, and despite outstanding work, she is determined to prove that a woman can compete, and win, in war, the most male-dominated area, yet remain an attractive, loving woman. She is granted a Presidential commission as Colonel in the Union Army and directs a cannon centered battle at Shiloh. Later given a command, Shannon leads a successful attack against General Johnston at Jackson, which pleases General Grant. She believes that she has to kill Lee Mitchell, a close classmate at Cambridge, plantation owner and inspirational leader of the Southern cause. This sweeping hero's journey, set against the frenzied battles, hopes and dreams, passion and sexuality, anguish and triumph of our Civil War, unfolds across the world from Pittsburgh to Vicksburg, across the seas to Africa and England, then to Mexico and the islands of Ascension and Bermuda.