Prisoners of Twilight

by Don Robertson

As the Civil War winds down in April 1865, a band of Confederate soldiers journeys south, unaware that they are on a collision course with another group of equally frightened soldiers

Genres: Fiction

214 pages, Hardcover

First published January 13, 1988

About the author

Robertson was born in Cleveland, Ohio and attended East High School. He briefly attended Harvard and Western Reserve University (now Case Western Reserve University) before working as a reporter and columnist.

Robertson won the Cleveland Arts Prize in 1966. The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature presented him with its Mark Twain Award in 1991. The Press Club of Cleveland's Hall of Fame inducted Robertson in 1992, and he received the Society of Professional Journalist's Life Achievement Award in 1995.

Robertson died on his birthday in 1999, aged 70. He's buried in Logan, Ohio.

Reviews

[Boots LookingLand · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy cow, what a book! It starts off a slow burn, but turns downright harrowing toward the end (I couldn't put it down). This is not the same old tired Civil War story recycled in a lot of other books; the characters are painfully real, and their circumstances are unlike any I've seen in any other fiction. No tired retread of battles, hardtack and politics, no Southern apologetic, no kindly woman who takes in stray soldiers and falls in love ~ all those crummy tropes find no foothold here at all: this is an end to the war that's brutal, human, and appalling in its humanness.

I came across this book by pure happenstance. It was mentioned somewhere that Stephen King was a fan, so I took a gamble and ordered it not knowing anything about it. I'll definitely be looking for some of Robertson's other books now ~ it's just a pity they are all out of print.

Not for the faint of heart, Robertson doesn't shy from the baser instincts of people trapped between wanting to die and a desperation to survive. There are only a handful of books I say I wish I had written. This one joins them.

[Kyri Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is one of the more amazing books I have read. It's the story of two groups of Confederate soldiers just before the surrender in April, 1865 and how they eventually meet, but that synopsis doesn't really explain what it's about. I suppose it's really about war and its dehumanizing and maddening effects. Deliberately transgressive, this book will offend many, but its sexual and violent themes are there for a reason and not simply to be shocking. Robertson writes in a tumble of words, at his best resembling McCarthy, occasionally slipping over into the purple. Some of the characters engage one's sympathies and some inspire disgust, but they are all quite well drawn with believable internal voices. There are a few minor historical errors but nothing really damaging. It will come as no surprise that Prisoners of Twilight does not have a happy ending (after finishing it I stared blankly into space for ten minutes and then picked up a first-person account of the war on the grounds that it was much more cheerful), but it is a significant novel and very much worth reading.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This garden book was so suspenseful! The barcode shows a different title w the correct description. This book has lovely before and after photos, with a descriptive how to section in the back. I'll refer to this as projects come up.