''A Dream of Kings'' is a novel written by American author

Davis Grubb Davis Alexander Grubb (July 23, 1919 – July 24, 1980) was an American novelist and short story writer, best known for his 1953 novel '' The Night of the Hunter'', which was adapted as a film in 1955 by Charles Laughton. Biography Born in M ...

, published in 1955. The novel describes the life of Tom Christopher during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

in Virginia.

Story line and development

The novel is set in

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

, which then becomes

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the Bur ...

, and on

battlefields between 1855 and 1864. Tom Christopher lives with his Aunt Sarah, and another girl his aunt has taken in, Catherine Ellen Hornbrook, or just Cathi as she is called. Her father Abijah Hornbrook, never appears in the novel, but his presence is felt. The "dream of kings" is the Confederacy. "A storm is gathering upon our land and when it has passed bija Hornbrook writes to his daughteryou may see a new nation upon this continent and you will know that I have helped to form it....a time of kings....Yes, this nation shall belong to the gentlemen who founded it. When the war comes Tom fights under the command of

Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) was a Confederate general during the American Civil War, considered one of the best-known Confederate commanders, after Robert E. Lee. He played a prominent role in nearl ...

. When Jackson dies, Tom deserts, and goes back to West Virginia. Once there he falls in love with Cathi.

Editions

* Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955. This was Grubb's first novel for Scribner's.

Reviews

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

'' had a favorable opinion upon the novel: "Novelist Grubb...has now attempted what might have been a commonplace story...but...he writes with such emotional conviction and lyric intensity that the book emerges as an authentic and haunting experience."Books: Mixed Fiction
October 3, 1955, ''

References

1955 American novels Novels by Davis Grubb Novels set during the American Civil War Novels set in Virginia Charles Scribner's Sons books Stonewall Jackson {{1950s-war-novel-stub