Across Five Aprils

Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt 1964 Tempo Books

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Many authors are writing about family histories. One of the common mistakes is to write it like a journal without tying the events together to form a story. This book is targeted at young adults but interesting for adults.

Hunt took stories her grandfather told her about the Creighton family during the Civil War and created this story that shows how the family made tough choices.

It is told through the youngest child, Jethro, who is 9 in 1861. His father Matt and mother Ellen had 12 children but the eldest son left for the gold fields, two daughters are married and traveled to Ohio, three young children died from illness, and their daughter was killed in an accident caused by the Burdow neighbor.

Jeth is good friends with the school teacher Shadrach Yale who hopes to marry Jeth’s sister, Jenny, but she is only 14. Jeth’s brother’s Tom, John, and cousin Eb join the Union while Bill joins the Confederacy.

Hunt is able to show what life is like on the farm in Illinois and the different opinions of the war as well as how they react to their neighbors. A couple of men think Jeth’s father should denounce Bill for joining the Rebels and plan to attack Jeth on his way home from town with supplies. It is Burdow who comes to his rescue. The same men burn their barn and dump coal oil down the well.

Jeth has to grow up fast after his father has a stroke. He spends time plowing in the fields and helping John’s wife, Nancy, and their two children. The story follows the path of the war and contains a few letters from Jeth’s brothers.

Jeth also must make adult decisions when his cousin Eb deserts the Union Army and hides out at home. Jeth writes a letter to President Lincoln, who has decided to grant amnesty to deserters if they return to their ranks.

The story takes the reader through the war and raises serious questions about war, slavery, and reconstruction among other things. But it also stresses the love of family and holding onto hope.

For those who want to write a story about their family or memoir, this is a book to read.

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