Agnes Canon's War

Agnes Canon is tired of being a spectator in life, a small-town schoolmarm and an invisible daughter among seven sisters, meat for the marriage market. The rivers of her Pennsylvania countryside flow west, and she yearns to flow with them, explore new lands, know the independence that is the usual sphere of men.

This is a story of a woman’s quest for freedom, both social and intellectual, and her education on the journey to freedom. She learns that freedom can be the scent and sound of unsettled prairies, the glimpse of a cougar, the call of a hawk. The struggle for freedom can test the chains of power, poverty, gender, or the legalized horror of slavery. And to her surprise, she discovers it can be found within a marriage, a relationship between a man and a woman who are equals in everything that matters.

This eloquent work of historical fiction chronicles the building of a marriage against the background of a civilization growing – and dying – in the run-up to civil war.

Deborah Lincoln of Neskowin, OR

Deborah Lincoln grew up among the cornfields of western Ohio, the product of farmers on one side, doctors and lawyers on the other. She earned a bachelor's degree from Michigan State University and a master's degree from the University of Michigan and doesn't really care which one wins the big game. She and her husband have three grown sons and live on the Oregon Coast.  deborahlincoln.org