Savannah by John Jakes

I enjoy reading historical fiction and John Jakes is a fantastic writer! I also love Savannah and it was lovely reading this book and remembering the places I'd been there when I visited. I had to include these two quotes because an ancestor of mine invented the Parrott cannon and I've been to the garrison at Hilton Head. Also, I used to live in New Jersey and I've been subjected to jokes about "Jersey drivers" for most of my life. I find it amusing that the reputation seems to have been around at least since the Civil War. (The book takes place around Christmas 1864, when General Sherman was occupying Savannah.)


Yankee soldiers were lowering the water level in the flooded rice fields to prepare for a land assault. From the garrison at Hilton Head, thirty-pound Parrott rifles were being shipped by water to add firepower to the siege.
—Page 79, hardcover edition

Isaiah was a fifth-generation scion of the New Jersey Fleegs, people who persevered despite repeated negative encounters with sheriffs, constables, jailers, and hanging judges. His forebears were arrested and prosecuted for everything from drugging unsuspecting tourists who woke up on outbound cargo ships captained by lascars, to the furious driving of chaises and gigs in crowded thoroughfares with total disregard for laws of courtesy and personal survival. New Jerseyites were famous for bad driving, and Isaiah was not one to besmirch the record.
—Page 170, hardcover edition