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All Parts Together

All Parts Together, February 2006
Jessica Radford trilogy
by Tom Mach

Hill Song Press
Featuring: Jessica Radford
374 pages
ISBN: 0974515949
Trade Size
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"Compelling Civil War era novel with great characters and accurate historical details."

Fresh Fiction Review

All Parts Together
Tom Mach

Reviewed by Jory Reedy
Posted April 16, 2006

Historical

August 22, 1863, was a day in hell for Jessica Radford as it was for all of the survivors in Lawrence, Kansas. It was the day after William Quantrill and his marauders burned down the town and killed around 200 unarmed men and boys. Jessica has great convictions about her anti-slavery beliefs and isn't about to surrender them because of these killers. Instead, she leaves Lawrence and travels with friends to the nation's capitol to make a difference.

Jessica, along with Otto and Penelope Heller, go to Washington, D.C., where Jessica is introduced to Walt Whitman and is more determined than ever to write her novel. She's still so headstrong and independent that she struggles with her feelings for Matt Lightfoot, the Methodist preacher who wishes to marry her. While he's off fighting for the Union, Matt runs into Mary Delaney, who's working as a nurse and still has very strong feelings for him. Will Matt stay true to Jessica, or will he finally discover and pursue another love interest?

Roger and Sara Toby are caught up in the war as Roger fights for the Confederacy, leaving Sara to struggle on her own. As a stage actress, Sara draws on her talents and delivers the best performance of her life in order to live. Will their marriage survive her actions, and will Roger make it home from the war?

ALL PARTS TOGETHER by Tom Mach is the second installment in the Jessica Radford trilogy. This book is filled with historically accurate details and many wonderful characters from the first book, SISSY. I anxiously await the conclusion to this series.

Learn more about All Parts Together

SUMMARY

The descriptions of the Civil War battles of Chickamauga, Chattanooga, and Franklin from both a Union and a Confederate perspective are only one of many delights readers will find in All Parts Together. Writers have praised both its historical accuracy as well as its emotional intensity. The title of this unusual historical novel comes from poet Walt Whitman, who wrote, "Sure as Life holds all parts together, Death holds all parts together." This is the second book of Tom Mach’s exciting trilogy on the life of a 19th-century abolitionist named Jessica Radford. In All Parts Together, Jessica, in 1863, survives the infamous Quantrill raid of Lawrence, Kansas, where almost 200 unarmed civilians were killed, and she eventually goes to Washington, D.C. A headstrong, independent young woman writer, she faces obstacles in her path as she seeks to influence Congress to enact emancipation of slaves in all the states. A Methodist minister named Matt Lightfoot, a man she has known for some time, proposes marriage to her. Will Jessica accept it? And what secret does she carry with her that she is unwilling to share with anyone?

Lincoln’s personality, as well as Booth’s tormented mind, are precisely etched in this well-researched novel. After Jessica witnesses the drama of Lincoln’s death in Ford’s Theater, her world crashes…but hope of a new beginning emerges when she opens the door to an unexpected visitor.

Maps and a list of the fictional characters in this book are included, as is a summary of the first book of Mach's trilogy: Sissy! Whether or not you enjoy Civil War novels, you will like this one because it will not only provide an accurate and gripping experience of our nation's history, but bring you into the emotional drama of conflict and compassion attempting to coexist.


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