A haunting and beautifully written novel about a Confederate soldier whose own personal war follows him into the afterlife—until one fateful day when his encounters with a modern-day couple change everything.
A ghost in his deserted childhood home in Virginia, Tom Smiley can’t forget the bloody war and its meaningless losses, nor can he shed his revulsion for his role in the Confederate defense of slavery. But when a young couple moves in and makes his home their own in the early twenty-first century, trouble erupts—and Tom is forced not only to face his own terrible secret but also to come to grips with his family’s hidden wartime history. He finds an unexpected ally in the house’s new owner, Phoebe Hunter, whose discoveries will have momentous consequences for them both.
Readers who enjoy immersive historical fiction books featuring vivid depictions of the Civil War and its lingering impacts—or historical and literary ghost fiction like Lincoln in the Bardo and The Haunting of Hill House—as well as those interested in thought-provoking explorations of slavery, racism, morality, and humanity, will find much to appreciate in The Last of What I Am. A perfect book club pick for fans of Civil War books like Simon the Fiddler and The Sweetness of Water, or anyone else looking for an impactful, thought-provoking read that offers a unique viewpoint on the Civil War and its legacy.
Industry Reviews
"What really haunts us-our own mistakes, or the weight of history? Based closely on the true story of her own uncanny encounters in an inherited antebellum Virginia farmhouse and old letters she found there, Abbie Cutter has crafted a novel that plumbs the painful history of a common soldier in the Civil War and the burdens he cannot set down. A riveting read, rich in historic detail and moral complexity."
-Geraldine Brooks, New York Times bestselling author and Pulitzer Prize winner of Horse and March
"A searing, brilliant, moving, and utterly original Civil War novel, told by the guilt-ravaged Virginia infantryman Tom Smiley whose own war never ended-at least not until a young couple move into his now-historic childhood home and start renovating . . . . A stirring meditation on guilt and redemption."
-Lee Smith, New York Times best-selling author of The Last Girls
"Abigail Cutter has rendered the Civil War and its consequences with a rare power and eloquence, combining literary imagination with fidelity to history. She has allowed people who lived and breathed in the past to live and breathe again, telling us of loss and suffering we need to remember."
-Edward Ayers, author and winner of the Bancroft Prize for In the Presence of Mine Enemies: Civil War in the Heart of America
"A richly imagined tragedy of a Rebel soldier whose regret for ill-chosen allegiance haunts him from the moment of enlistment through the horrors of a Union prison. It follows him into the afterlife, where he lingers in his ancestral home, unable to shed his shame for fighting for the cause of slavery. Masterful historical research and detail of the nineteenth century invest this story with a reader's pleasure in a felt life."
-John Rolfe Gardiner, author of Newport Rising and O. Henry Prize winner
"Tom's experiences, so vividly described, highlight the futility, chaos and hopelessness of war. . . . A deep and thought-provoking novel."
-The Spectator
"Cutter paints a vivid portrait of the 19th century . . . striking prose . . . [An] absorbing Civil War tale about overcoming guilt."
-Kirkus Reviews
