I picked up this book on a whim because I was in the bargain for a historical novel with gothic undertones and with a palpable historical backdrop.  However, The Widow of the South failed to grab me and take me to the world of its characters and time setting alike.  The Widow of the South is a fictional account on the life of Carrie McGavock, a grieving Confederate wife who has lost interest in life in general after the Civil War battle begins and her home is commandeered for a field hospital and cemetery.  She lives a miserable life after the death of three of her children, and pays little attention to her remaining living children and of her plantation, which is now under the care of a slave called Mariah.  Carrie lives quite a lonely, empty existence, wearing black gowns all the time, grieving the loss of her children.  But her life isn't the same after she meets Zachariah Cashwell, a solider who loses one of his legs during the battle.  Zachariah and Carrie begin a strange, disturbing relationship that has some very disarming moments.  There are various twists throughout the novel.