Delirium of the Brave - Softcover

Harris, William C.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312977131 ISBN 13: 9780312977139

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 2001

Synopsis

Savannah, 1864. Confederate Captain Patrick Driscoll and his dear friend and manservant Shadrack "Shad" Bryan leave their tearful families to help fight for the Southern cause. They are to set up fort at Raccoon Island off Georgia's coast in a last-ditch effort to save their beloved city from Union attack. But only days into their assignment, the two men die in each other's arms in a Yankee bombardment. Though the men are gone, their legacy will live on-as will the legend of the priceless Driscoll family treasure the two men have buried on Raccoon Island.

Four generations after the Civil War, many Confederate families still remain in Savannah, struggling through the twentieth-century in a South rife with hardball politics, personal vendettas and the hangover of war.

John-Morgan Hartman, son of a newspaper man and great-great grandson of Captain Patrick Driscoll, goes to serve his country in Vietnam, unaware of the physical and psychological wounds that will befall him...

Tony O'Boyle is an ambitious young politician who will stop at nothing and spare no one to get ahead-but his family's dark past will come back to haunt him...

Lloyd Bryan, descended from slaves, is determined to succeed where his ancestors didn't. But his celebrity as a professional football player immerses him in a world of temptation that ultimately turns him toward religion...

Charlotte Drayton, a successful television reporter, has always used her beauty to get her way-but the one man she can't have is the only one she wants...

After many years, four friends will meet on the very island where the two confederate soldiers died in each other's arms. To find where they buried Driscoll's treasure-and to uncover the dangerous secrets of a prominent Savannah family.

A gripping novel of history, intrigue, war, and love, Delirium of the Brave follows four generations of families contemplating the pain of the past and the promise of the future. Get swept away by this glorious saga rich with the sights, sounds, flavors, and people of the South's most stunning locale.

About this title

From the Publisher

Due to a printer's error, some copies of DELIRIUM OF THE BRAVE have a blank page for page 366. The following is the text of that page:

consumed by guilt over the pride that had driven him out to the island. He babbled on and on about how "Pride always goes before a fall," and how he had "fallen as far as any man could." He was "arrogant," "steeped in pride," "responsible for another man's death." John-Morgan tried to

reason with him, but the tormented priest could not be moved.

"This is probably the end of my ministry," he said, "the only thing in my life that was ever really worthwhile. Now someone will need to hear my confession." As he gazed at Tony's wounds, Lloyd had another, wrenching thought. "What do we tell his wife? What do we tell his father? That I lured him out here because I knew that Big Tony murdered his own brother forty years ago?"

"I don't know, Lloyd," said John-Morgan as he shook his head in disbelief, "I just don't know."

Following her instincts, Ann Marie made half a dozen cellphone calls to locate Mike and Bubba. She finally tracked them down at the WTOC broadcast booth. She carefully explained to Mike why she was concerned about John-Morgan. "Something's crazy wrong, Mike. I know it is. Listen, ya'll take John-Morgan's old Whaler and go look for him, please." Her voice cracked. "I'll run it down to the marina and have it in the water by the time you get here." She was afraid.

"What's goin' on, Ann Marie? Where is John-Morgan, anyway?" asked Mike, a thread of terror coiled inside him.

"Ya'll come on," she said. "Hurry now."

When Mike and Bubba drove up, Ann Marie met them. She was pale. Her face seemed to have aged.

"I'm sure he went to Raccoon Island. I'd go too, but I can't leave the children, Brendan's sick. The boat's in the water. Plenty of gas in it. Hurry!"

About the Author

William C. Harris, a native Savannahian, is a graduate of Georgia State University and the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine. He practices podiatry in Savannah, where he lives with his wife Pamela and three daughters. This is his first novel.

Edition details

• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2001
• ISBN 10: 0312977131
• ISBN 13: 9780312977139
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 384