As I always hope when reading historical fiction, I learned a lot - about the Battle of Franklin, the small town in Tennessee that was rocked by it and Carrie McGavock, the already troubled young wife, who was forced to open her plantation home, Carnton, as a hospital.  Carnton set on the edge of the bloody battlefied and was quickly filled both inside and out with the dead and dying and many with gruesome, life-altering injuries.  There is much more human interest and resulting relationships explored in this novel than there is about the actual waging of the battle, although the military parts are actually beautifully written and terribly engaging.