Landsman (AudioGo)

In the summer of 1853, in Lafayette City, Louisiana, 11-year-old Elias Abrams loses his mother to yellow fever. Grief-stricken and alone, he becomes embroiled in the street life of New Orleans. After Elias is falsely accused of a crime, and in order to escape arrest, he enlists in the Third Louisiana Regiment, where 3,000 other Jews will ultimately fight for the Confederacy. Before long, though, Elias' past catches up with him, and he realizes that he must face his demons, or lose the woman he loves. Peter Charles Melman was raised in Louisiana, where he earned his doctorate in Creative Writing from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He currently teaches English at Hunter College High School in New York and lives in Brooklyn. Daniel Oreskes has appeared on Broadway in Aida and off-Broadway in Quills and Roar. "[A] colorful portrait of Civil War-time New Orleans, its squalid underworld and small Jewish enclave... There is certainly no shortage of Civil War fiction; this is one of the better offerings." -- Publishers Weekly