Making peace with her spiteful classmate, Clara, seems impossible to Jane. Despite encouragement from Mother Baptista, the mother superior at their convent school, Jane and Clara dig in their heels. As the girls brood they hear the cannons of the Civil War explode outside their school as General Sherman and the Union army attack the city of Columbia, South Carolina, in February 1865.

Mother Baptista asks Sherman for protection for her nuns and students, and he promises they will be safe inside their convent school. But despite his promise they have to flee in the middle of the night through a chaotic, burning city. Will Mother Baptista forgive Sherman for breaking his promise? Can Jane and Clara make peace when the adults in their world are at odds and at war?

Set during the most deadly and divisive war in U.S. history, this compelling story is based on first-person accounts of true events. Fire and Forgiveness is a reminder of the important role forgiveness and peacemaking play in life's conflicts big and small, whether between quarreling children, proud adults, or warring nations.

 

This book is part of a book series called Young Palmetto .

There are 48 pages in this book. This book was published 2019 by University of South Carolina Press .

Monica Wyrick has a fine arts degree from the University of Dayton and has worked in advertising, as a muralist, and as an art instructor. Wyrick and her husband live in South Carolina, USA and have three grown children. Martha Dunsky , a member of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, is a former award-winning television reporter/videographer and producer and a retired technical editor for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center.