North and South

North and South, by John Jakes

While sitting in the airport on a 6 hour layover in route to South Carolina I found myself browsing through the Kindle Store in search of a “Southern” Historical Fiction novel.  The Civil War is always a ‘go to’ time period for me when looking for something educational and entertaining. After reading dozens of reviews and scanning many many pages I downloaded Shades of Gray, by Jessica James(read it, loved it, recommend it!) and North and South, by John Jakes. After reading the first review on the list I immediately recognized the book as being the story of Orry Maine (Patrick Swayze) and George Hazard (James Read) from the television miniseries.  My memories were immediately taken back to the middle school days when my two best friends and I ran home from school every day for 2 weeks so we could watch the saga of Orry and George. I remember LOVING the fierce competition between Brett and Ashton as well as the horrifying drama with Madaline Lamont. I have to chuckle, just a bit, when I think about my friends’ mom ‘editing’ the sex scenes and us girls being secretly annoyed that she didn’t think we were mature enough to watch it. Now, as a mother of 2 little girls, I realize I wouldn’t be letting my preteen daughters watch the lovey parts either!