R. T. Smith's Sherburne chronicles the title family s encounters with ruthlessness over several generations. The patriarch discovers himself when he encounters Sherman s horse soldiers in 1864 Georgia, and his son, working in law enforcement in the Virginia Blue Ridge, finds himself struggling with moral issues in a harsh landscape.As practitioners and victims of violence, the Sherburne family makes an apt portrait of Smith s conviction that even those who resort to force on behalf of their community must bear the responsibility and carry the scars.
"Ranging through time from the...