Hew Against the Grain

by Betty Sue Cummings

A young girl whose home is on the Virginia-West Virginia border loses her will to live after she becomes a victim of the cruelties of civil war.

174 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1977

Reviews

[Susanna Natti · Rating 3 out of 5]

Published in 1977, this is a young adult novel about Mattilda, a young teenager in a large family living in Virginia at the start of the Civil War. Her family is torn apart by the War; the author visits every truism about the war upon this family - brothers fighting in opposite armies, several of them killed in action and some suffering crippling injuries, the family farm plundered by soldiers, vigilantes murdering another family member. In an adult novel, probably more would be made of all of these horrendous events with more detailed context. Here, they are part of the story line but are written about sparely; that's ok. The heart of the story is Mattilda and her courage in keeping her family together despite terrible losses. Warning: if you are considering offering this to someone young to read, you should know that there is a rape toward the end of the book. It's an essential part of the plot but it's graphic. If your reader is ready to read about this important historical period, this book offers the chance to get some understanding about what it must have been like for a family pulled apart by war.