HOLY CRUSADE

In this novel set just before the Civil War, a young man grows up fast traveling with his abolitionist church congregation through Illinois in hopes of reaching Kansas.

In 1858, Addison J. Freeman’s biggest problem is romantic—he desperately pines to marry the beautiful Lizbeth Waverly. But his father, Adolph, the deacon of Addison’s Illinois church, refuses to grant his permission. Addison’s life gets considerably more complicated when Preacher Larrimer peremptorily announces that the entire congregation of the Found Church is moving to Kansas in order to support keeping the territory free from slavery. Larrimer condemns slavery as an abomination and considers the self-exile to Kansas a “holy crusade.” He convinces his flock to back the establishment of the New Found Grace Church in “Bloody Kansas.” Yet the journey across Illinois is a perilous one—the crusaders encounter all manners of hostility, including virulently pro-slavery advocates. Addison is made a wagon train scout and quickly shows an uncommon talent for it. He finds himself regularly confronted with the kind of violence that weighs heavily on the soul: “Addison asked himself, when you kill a man, or three, how in blue blazes do you talk about it? Or think about it? Or deal with it? Other than running away from it.” Later, though, he begins to develop a taste for killing, an astonishing transformation powerfully depicted by Zerr. The author astutely portrays the volatility of the time in the United States and the ways in which slavery was a political and moral tinderbox. Addison’s maturation (or moral descent) is intriguing, especially when contrasted with the uncompromising pacifism of his father. There is also a leavening element of soap-operatic, romantic entanglement—while Addison continues to long for Lizbeth, she marries Orson Seiling, an unserious man that the scout considers a “giant three-year-old.” This is an unusually entertaining novel given its impressive historical gravity.

An engaging and morally thoughtful tale of a tumultuous time in American history.