Lessons on Forgiveness and Peacemaking for All Ages
On February 19, 2019 the University of South Carolina Press releases Fire and Forgiveness: A Nun’s Truce with General Sherman by Martha Dunsky with illustrations by Monica Wyrick.
Making peace with her spiteful classmate Clara seems impossible to Jane. Despite encouragement from Mother Baptista, the mother superior at their convent school, Jane and Clara dig in their heels. As the girls brood they hear the cannons of the Civil War explode outside their school as General Sherman and the Union army attack the city of Columbia, South Carolina, in February 1865.
Mother Baptista asks Sherman for protection for her nuns and students, and he promises they will be safe inside their convent school. But despite his promise they have to flee in the middle of the night through a chaotic, burning city. Will Mother Baptista forgive Sherman for breaking his promise? Can Jane and Clara make peace when the adults in their world are at odds and at war?
Set during the most deadly and divisive war in U.S. history, this compelling story is based on first-person accounts of true events. Fire and Forgiveness is a reminder of the important role forgiveness and peacemaking play in life’s conflicts big and small, whether between quarreling children, proud adults, or warring nations.
Advance Praise for Fire and Forgiveness
“…a thoughtful, beautifully illustrated work that emphasizes stories of kindness and mercy during a time of war. The intimate tale reminds us how human goodness can triumph over violence and fear.”—Martha Moody, author of Washington Post bestseller Best Friends
“As the Civil War moves closer to Columbia, two girls in a convent school carry on their own battle. It’s exciting to see another “forgotten” Civil War story brought vividly to life for today’s readers.”—Kathy Cannon Wiechman, winner of the 2015 Grateful American Book Prize for Like a River: A Civil War Novel
Martha Dunsky, a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, is a former award-winning television reporter/videographer and producer and a retired technical editor for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. Monica Wyrick has a fine arts degree from the University of Dayton and has worked in advertising, as a muralist, and as an art instructor. She is the illustrator of Crabbing, Dreaming with Animals, The H. L. Hunley Submarine, and Art Smart, Science Detective, all published by the University of South Carolina Press.
Available from booksellers everywhere and from SC Press at www.uscpress.com.