THE FAR SIDE OF HOME

There are two battles here-- on the field and in the bedroom. In a novel of the Civil War South, everyone knows how the field went, but the bedroom is always in question. Johnny McKeown, sharp shooter and rebel, suffers from retreat and on his war-time honeymoon, in a closely documented scene of bad bedroom manners, he heeds the urge to ""Charge!"" However, the marital bed is by Hope Springs Eternal and Mrs. MoK. (who had refused to speak to him the morning after the night before) begins to enjoy surrender after McKeown visits her at his home on French leave Southern style. Perhaps both stories have been told too often, for neither issue is ever really in doubt. It is slick writing and will no doubt make the scene on the screen. The really unusual feature of the book is the fact that McKeown-- at war and at home-- is the forgotten man of the Civil War, a member of neither planter aristocracy nor yet poor white trash; he is the doggedly dutiful and disenchanted middle class man at arms.