At twenty-six, Bushrod Carter is already an old soldier, a veteran of all his regiment's campaigns since Shiloh. Now, on an Indian summer afternoon in 1864, Bushrod finds himself in the line of battle once again, on a plain below the obscure village of Franklin, Tennessee. In the madness and violence of the great battle, he must confront his soul, learn from his comrades and from a young girl struggling with her own harsh past.

This timeless portrait of a young man's suffering in war has won praise for its originality and power. The Black Flower is a story not only of war, but of men and women seeking redemption. Stripped of all that anchors them, they at last turn to honor and courage and love.