Child of the River carries the reader from war torn Vicksburg, Mississippi, to a plantation of Big Black River, a KKK meeting in an unnamed southern city to Boston, Massachusetts, as well as to Menard County, Texas, a quaint little town at the extreme edge of the frontier and Comanche Indian country. The Civil War brought heartache to America as literally thousands died in the battles. Thousands more were maimed... brother against brother and friend against friend as men chose sides. It lasted four long years from 1861 to 1865, yet it was a necessary evil to bring freedom to the Negro slaves who were brought to this country against their will for involuntary servitude. 140,414 Union solders died in the struggle. Confederate losses were not recorded in history, but the number of the dead and wounded must have been tremendous.

Contrary to popular belief that slavery was just a southern wrong-doing, the practice of selling human beings on the auction block began north of the Mason-Dixon Line. It was first introduced in America at Jamestown in 1619. Beginning with the battle of Vicksburg, this warm, human, historical fiction novel is about people struggling to rebuild their lives from the ashes of the devastating Civil War that crushed the South. It's about both white and black people... their lives, loves, heartaches, homes, and dreams.

The second half of the novel is set in Menard County. Old Fort McKavett and area ghost towns come to life in this novel. Child of the River is generously sprinkled with historical facts about the Civil War era, as well as colorful little known facts blended with the fiction about a small town in Texas. The entire story is pure conjecture, a concoction ofthe author's vivid imagination. A bit of left-handed humor is sprinkled here and there throughout the book. The characters are all fictitious. Any similarity to persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Most authors at least use an outline. Not Wanda. She winged this one all the way, chapter by chapter. She had never been to Vicksburg until after the first draft of this book as written. She didn't change a word after her visit years later. It was all written from research. As a youngster, she roamed the hills and valleys and walked Spanish and Indian trails with odd marking in her hometown of Menard, Texas. Child of the River took more than twenty years in the writing, rewriting, and rewriting. Enjoy it.