In the fall of 1863, the Union army is in control of the Mississippi river. Much of Louisiana, including New Orleans and Baton Rouge, is occupied. The Confederate army is in disarray, corrupt structures are falling apart, and enslaved men and women are beginning to glimpse freedom.

When Hannah Laveau, a formerly enslaved woman working on the Lufkin plantation, is accused of murder, she goes on the run with Florence Milton, an abolitionist schoolteacher, dodging the local constable and the slavecatchers that prowl the bayous. Wade Lufkin, haunted by what he observed—and did—as a surgeon on the battlefield, has returned to his uncle’s plantation to convalesce, where he becomes enraptured by Hannah. Flags on the Bayou is an engaging, action-packed narrative that includes a duel that ends in disaster, a brutal encounter with the local Union commander, repeated skirmishes with Confederate irregulars led by a diseased and probably deranged colonel, and a powerful story of love blossoming between an unlikely pair. As the story unfolds, it illuminates a past that reflects our present in sharp relief.

I purchased a copy of this book for my own reading.

I’ve not read a lot about the American Civil war, but I know bits about it. So it was interesting when this came up as a possible option for my 2025 Reading Challenge as a book that won an award last year. And it did not disappoint.

Flags on the Bayou follows a disparate group of people – the nephew of a plantation owner, two slave women, an abolitionist, and even a Confederate commander. It’s told from the perspective of each person in turn, one chapter at a time.

From a personal standpoint, I thoroughly enjoyed this approach to story telling. It allowed for the story to be told in real time by inviting the reader into each character’s world at a given time. I’ve seen many readers not so keen on this as it can be a challenge to follow, but it makes for a fantastic way to tell a twisting and at times tense story.

My rating: