The Deep Cut

Thirteen-year-old Lonzo knows that Papa thinks he’s slow compared to his brothers. When the Civil War breaks out and throws Culpeper, Virginia, into chaos, Papa sends Lonzo to live with his aunt Mariah on the other side of the Deep Cut, the railroad gorge that runs through the rocky hills south of Culpeper. Meanwhile Lonzo’s best friend and protector, cousin Ferdy, secretly enlists in the Confederate army.

Feeling abandoned by the two most important males in his life—his father and cousin—Lo...