A Court for Owls

by Richard Adicks

Overview

The son of a Baptist preacher, Lewis Powell joined the Florida Jasper Blues to fight for the Confederacy in 1861. He soon had a fateful encounter with John Wilkes Booth and was drawn into the plot to kidnap Abraham Lincoln. In 1865 he was tried as a conspirator in the assassination of Lincoln, during which Powell attacked and wounded Secretary of State William Seward. From these facts and other scattered details of the life of Lewis Powell (alias Lewis Payne), Richard Adicks has constructed a historical novel that moves us into the heart of the war between the North and the South and into the crosscurrents of idealism and fanaticism. Rich in the color and detail of the Civil War, this tale moves from rural Florida to Powell's baptism by fire in the early battles of the war. Wounded and captured at Gettysburg, he serves as a prisoner nurse in a field hospital until he escapes to Baltimore. There he falls in love with Mary Branson and soon becomes mired in fringe regiments doing the dirty work of the faltering cause. By 1865 he is pulled deeper into Booth's mad effort to avenge the defeated Confederacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781561646272
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/01/2013
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Richard Adicks, a sixth-generation Floridian, grew up in Lake City and now lives in Lakeland. He studied at the University of Florida and Tulane University and has taught English at Rollins College, Tulane, Georgia Tech, the University of Central Florida, and Africa University. Besides articles on literature and Florida history, he has written a history of Oviedo, Florida, where he and his wife, Mildred, lived for several years.

Editorial Reviews

Adicks's debut novel set during and after the Civil War has all the ingredients of a first-rate historical thriller, yet never rises above a stale and flavorless sketch. Much of the problem stems from Adick's flat journalistic account of the events of the war and his inability to dramatize the story's conflicts. The protagonist, Lewis Powell, was the mysterious young man who assaulted Secretary of State William Seward on the night Lincoln was assassinated, and who was accused of complicity in the latter event. Not long after Lewis joins the Florida Jasper Blues in the heady early days of the Confederacy, he has a fateful encounter with John Wilkes Booth and is drawn into a plot to kidnap Lincoln. As portrayed by Adicks, Booth is so absurd and histrionic that his ability to mesmerize Lewis is scarcely credible. Lewis rides though the South creating havoc among the northern troops, visits a variety of whorehouses, is wounded at Gettysburg and conducts ill-fated romances with local belles. While Booth succeeds in ending Lincoln's life, Lewis bungles the attempt to murder Seward in a scene of unusual dullness. In fizzling succession, Lewis is captured, tried and executed and this lackluster novel mercifully comes to an end. (June)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

The details of the assassination of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth are widely known, but many are unaware that eight co-conspirators were tried and four, including one woman, were hanged for their parts in the crime. This novel traces one of these from his induction into the Confederate Army until his execution in Washington in July 1865. The author chose fiction as his vehicle because so few details of Lewis Powell's life are known; however, his style remains that of a historian rather than a novelist. The fanatical charisma of Booth is well portrayed, as he leads his supporters into increasingly rash acts in a city occupied by supporters of both sides of the conflict. The book's primary appeal will be to readers of a historical bent.-- Marcia R. Hoffman, M.L.S., Hoechst Celanese Corp., Somerville, N.J.

Library Journal

The fanatical charisma of Booth is well portrayed, as he leads his"supporters into increasingly rash acts in a city occupied by supporters of both sides of the conflict.” — Library Journal " “Adicks’ superb word pictures successfully conjure up sights and sounds that make this a thoroughly enjoyable novel.”" — Richard Sloan, President, The Lincoln Group of New York " “A romantic, stirring novel about the short but exciting life of the mystery man known in all the official records as ‘Lewis Payne.’ Professor Adicks tells us, with great perception, how it was to be a young zealot in the wartime South.”— Dr. John K. Lattimer, author of Kennedy and Lincoln " “Adicks brings to vivid life the saddest conspiracy we know and the bloodiest war we fought.” — Stephen Becker, author of When the War Is Over "

From the Publisher