We March to the Sea

Abstract

We March to the Sea, a multi-perspective fictional novel, explores the collapse of family unity and cultural heritage in modern-day North Carolina. The Jalin family is drifting apart--Joy is studying Civil War history at the state university. Jessup, her father, is repurposing the family farmstead, called Turkeyfoot, into a Battle Site tourist attraction. Sable, Joy's mother, attempts to follow the values of loyalty handed down from her mother. Vance and Yossar, Jessup's brothers, struggle with the legacy of the accidental death of an African-American girl in their past, while Clint, Yossar's son, looks for a way out of the Carolinas. Following a family reunion that ends in further family disunity and the death of the grandparents, Vance, the new patriarch, calls on Jessup to hold a Civil War reenactment on the family land. The reenactment is to be based on a family story involving the death of two Jalins who were supposedly killed by General Sherman's men on his march northward through the Carolinas, but the family has trouble determining the true version of the story. In the days leading to the reenactment, Jessup hires a reenactment crew and the family prepares for the big event. Meanwhile, Joy finds herself in love with the man hired to play General Sherman and Clint, her cousin, can no longer tolerate his family's attachment to what he sees as Confederate values. The reenactment day opens with a large crowd of visitors and high expectations, but the questions surrounding the actual events of the story lead to utter disaster. The novel ends with Jessup and Sable leaving Turkeyfoot, Clint heading west, and Vance confessing his love for Sable. Joy, unable to cope with the farce her father has made of Civil War history, burns down the homestead cabin so that her father cannot hold any such reenactment again.