Season of Life

Season of Life by Jeff Janoda is an absorbing work of Civil War historical fiction that begins in the raw aftermath of Gettysburg. Basil Biggs, a free Black farmer, returns home to find his land torn apart by battle and soon gets drawn into military intelligence work alongside Union spy John Babcock. What starts as a grounded story of survival develops into a historical adventure novel filled with espionage, dangerous travel, battlefield medicine, and a strange encounter with the dead Confederate soldier Wesley Culp. The book has a big canvas, but Basil’s practical concerns about his family, animals, livelihood, and freedom keep it personal.

Janoda gives the historical fiction a lived-in quality through physical details that make the war feel immediate. Roads are clogged with wounded men, homes become improvised hospitals, armies depend on rumors, and civilians are forced to make choices with little reliable information. The story also makes room for Cornelia Hancock, whose nursing work provides a compassionate view of the suffering left behind by military glory. Basil remains the strongest presence, though. He’s observant, stubborn, funny, and deeply conscious of how racism shapes every conversation, job, and moment of danger. His growing friendship with Babcock works because respect builds through shared experience rather than easy declarations.

The novel’s supernatural fiction elements add an eerie current without pulling the story away from its historical setting. Rosalie’s voice, the recurring crows, Wesley Culp’s impossible appearances, and the ancient being behind them turn the book into a blend of historical fantasy and supernatural thriller. That presence plays with fear, belief, memory, and human violence, which fits a landscape already haunted by thousands of deaths. The supernatural mystery becomes more prominent as the characters move behind Confederate lines, giving the middle and later sections the momentum of an espionage thriller while raising questions about whether help offered by a powerful being can ever be trusted.

What stayed with me most was the book’s interest in the lives growing around famous history. Generals and battles matter, but Season of Life focuses on farmers, nurses, scouts, teamsters, servants, wounded soldiers, and Black communities whose experiences are often pushed to the edges of Civil War stories. Its combination of Civil War fiction, historical adventure, supernatural fiction, and military espionage creates a distinctive reading experience with plenty of action and an emotional core. The epilogue gives Basil, Babcock, and Cornelia’s journeys satisfying historical weight, while the final note about Wesley Culp leaves the door open to a much older and stranger story.

An ancient trickster spirit visits a farmer, a spy, and a nurse during the Civil War in this novel.

Under the violent shadows of the Battle of Gettysburg of 1863, Basil Biggs just wants to get home. A free Black man raised by his mystically gifted mother, Rosalie, surrounded by abolitionists, Biggs knows the dangers that Rebel soldiers pose. But for the sake of his family’s livelihood, he must see if anything remains of his Pennsylvania farm. Along the way, he is stopped by a dying Confederate soldier, a man who claims to be the not-yet-infamous Wesley Culp, who was born in Gettysburg. Culp maintains that Biggs’ dead mother told him that he’d “be along presently.” The soldier conscripts Biggs into delivering a letter to Jenny Wade, a Gettysburg resident, and a medallion to Culp’s sister, Julia. This is not the only task Rosalie and Culp have for Biggs, as he will soon meet Union spymaster John Babcock, who has also found himself visited by Rosalie. Babcock seeks to employ Biggs to aid him in gaining valuable information about Gen. Robert E. Lee’s next moves. Babcock and Biggs find an unlikely ally on their mission: Culp, the Pan-like trickster spirit who continues to appear in the guise of a dead man. Meanwhile, a fiery young woman named Cornelia Hancock heads to Gettysburg to volunteer as a nurse at Camp Letterman. But along with the admiration of suffering soldiers, she too will catch the eye of the spirit who fancies taking the shape of corpses. Janoda’s absorbing novel portrays the Civil War in bleak and horrific terms, complete with piles of amputated limbs, the smell of decaying flesh, and the cries of the wounded. The magical aspects of Culp’s actions do not diminish this darkness or lighten the hard truths of the war—this “Changer of Forms” uses methods that are just as chilling and unsettling, respecting the grim history of the times. Historical flourishes abound in the book, from the disgusting racial tensions even among Union soldiers to medical practices that border on the barbaric. The era’s spycraft is heavily referenced, depicting disguises, infiltration, and sabotage in an informative way that never feels inorganic to the plot.

Engrossing blood-and-guts historical fiction with a respectful touch of low fantasy thrown in.

Jeff Janoda is a Canadian teacher, historian and writer whose ability to research and vitalise historical events disparate in time and space is admirable.  His terrific 2005 novel Saga takes us into the world of old Nordic stories. Sundog (2019) is a gripping yarn set in the last days of World War Two.  His third novel, Season of Life pulls the reader into the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863.  The American Civil War was known to The Varnished Culture through that historical textbook, Gone With the Wind and a few episodes of an interminable, sepia-coloured documentary tv series.  Now that we have read Season of Life, that bloody and shattering war is real to us.  A word of advice – any reader not familiar with the causes, personalities, strategies, incidents and geography of the American Civil War, is urged to do just a little research before tackling this dense and fast-faced book.

Basil Biggs is a free black man who, driven from his farm by the marauding Confederate Army, hides in a neighbour’s barn until he is drawn into the aftermath of the battle of Gettysburg.  He is a decent and laconic man, rendered even quieter by the fact that he “talks like a white man” which can only mean trouble. He’s unsentimental, referring to the mother of his children as “Mary Jackson” and he doesn’t seem to miss his family all that much. Cornelia Hancock is a middle class white woman, tortured by her enforced indolence and her love for her sister’s husband, a doctor at ghastly field hospitals.  She joins her brother-in-law as a nurse. Biggs and Cornelia’s paths cross. Janoda integrates historical figures – such as the stern, hot-tempered commander, General Meade (see image below), who fails to follow through, and a diverse group of fictional officers, soldiers, marauders and the dispossessed. This is an action-packed narrative, but, like all of Janoda’s work, psychologically acute and convincing. There is no shuttled-in romance or melodrama.

The supernatural element to the plot comes as a surprise but is a welcome and enriching aspect of story. Birds of omen are put to good use. “Two black dots spun downward out of the blue sky and became crows. They flew directly toward the wagon and alighted on the lazy back of the wagon seat, between Charlie and Calvin, who gave them the ritual biscuit, one each. They ate them quickly, squawked their thanks and then hopped off and flew up to Biggs sitting far above on the top-most tier of coffins, facing forward. They alighted on his shoulders…’All right friends,’ Biggs said.  ‘Where to today?’  They exploded up into the air.”  There are episodes which may be hallucinations but, if so, they are mass hallucinations. The appearances of the dead or demons are all the more frightening for being rare and unexpected. There is a supernatural scene of great strength but, unfortunately, just a few episodes which jar. Similarly, overall there are a few clichés – Cornelia is thought to be too pretty to nurse, Biggs’ mother was a sort of psychic, magic healer, letters from the dead arrive.

At times Season of Life reminded us of the great movie, Patton, or a first-person shooter game with odours and amputations.

Highly recommended for those with an interest in the American Civil War, or in a real-life, insightful mélange of the real and the fey, daily struggles for life and liberty, spies, Abraham Lincoln, the arrangement of cemeteries, blood and guts.

As we wrote in our review of Sundog, We await Mr. Janoda’s next novel with interest.  Where will he go now?  We are sure to be going with him.

[Editor’s note: The American Civil War was anything but civil. Well over half a million people perished, and that cannot only have been due to the recognised causes (or pretexts) for war: abolition of slavery, states’ rights, and economic differences. This is not the first work to reflect upon the supernatural elements of the conflict: moral battles between good and evil, the lessons from the dead, the spiritual struggles: but it seems to be one with the most resonance.]

Writing a historical fiction novel can be quite the challenge for any author, especially when creating a story which is both historically accurate and also has a touch of fictional aspects which makes the story that much more intriguing and otherworldly. But that is precisely what you’re going to get, and then some, in Season of Life by Jeff Janoda. It will take you on an action-packed ride through the American Civil War in particular, the Battle of Gettysburg where a free Black farmer, a Union spymaster, and a “fiery” young nurse will find their journeys and lives interwoven suddenly due to an ancient trickster spirit.

When we are introduced to Basil Biggs, a now-free Black man who was driven from his farm by the Confederate Army, he has hidden in a neighboring farm’s barn until the aftermath of Gettysburg. Later, he meets Cornelia Hancock, a love-lorn nurse who is struggling with the love she has for her sister’s husband, a doctor at horrific field hospitals. The way that Janoda seamlessly introduces us to real historical figures in this story like General Meade, for example with the fictional characters we have come to know throughout this tale is truly a masterclass in writing a historical, character-driven story with a fast-paced plot to boot.

Biggs, who was raised by his mystically-gifted mother, just wants to get home after all that he has endured. He comes across different people, including an infamous Confederate and dying soldier by the name of Wesley Culp that claims he was visited by Biggs’ deceased mother, Rosalie. But he’s not the only one who mentions a visitation from her during Biggs’ journey. When he meets Union spymaster John Babcock, he hears a similar tale about his mother. This is where we begin to learn more about the ancient trickster spirit who takes on the form of corpses to help with his trickster ways.

The addition of a supernatural element is an even more intriguing aspect of this story. Incorporating elements that are otherworldly with an otherwise very historically accurate detailed recounting of the Battle of Gettysburg of 1863 as well as the aftermath makes for a very unique and exciting read. Janoda does not shy away from the dark and grim realities of war, especially back then. From the cries of dying soldiers, to the racial tensions, to the barbaric medical practices of those times, you feel as though you are right in the thick of the war yourself.

This is an excellent read for any history-enthusiasts who appreciate a dash of fantasy and the supernatural thrown into their historical fiction reads. You will find yourself eagerly wanting to see what happens next to this diverse cast of characters with the backdrop of the era’s intense and dark history of war. Run, don’t walk, and pick up your copy of Season of Life by Jeff Janoda today!