From the Darkness Risen is the first novel by upcoming author, Jessica Jewett. Set against the backdrop of the bloody American Civil War, From the Darkness Risen is a story of courage, valor and what it means to be a family. Settings in Virginia, Illinois and Missouri show how the War affected different people, from the wealthy to the poor. From the Darkness Risen is populated by both fictional and real characters to give the story a rich tapestry of American history. Isabelle and Robert Cavanaugh represent the average family, the sort of family that sent off fathers, sons and husbands to fill ranks for a noble cause. The root of their story is the importance of family, love and forgiveness.
Brought up in a broken but wealthy Charleston home, Isabelle Cavanaugh caused a bit of a stir at seventeen by marrying an orphan well beneath her and leaving her broken family behind in Charleston to have her own family in Staunton, Virginia. She firmly believes her sole purpose in life is to be the sort of wife and mother that keeps her family safe, happy and together. The explosion of Civil War almost in her own backyard forces Isabelle to think beyond home and hearth as her husband leaves to join the fight with the Fifth Virginia Volunteers. She suddenly finds herself fitful and dissatisfied, struggling with the traditional role of an 1860s wife and mother against her desire to be and do something more for Virginia and her husband. When the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind is taken over for the Confederate Army Hospital, Isabelle throws herself into mothering Virginia's wounded soldiers.
If anyone had asked Robert Cavanaugh as a child if he would have a family, own a farm and fight a war, he probably would have thought you insane. A train accident orphaned Robert at the tender age of four, making him grow up in a Charleston orphanage. There he became lifelong friends with another boy, Joseph Lowe. Together they became something of brothers and Joseph followed Robert to Virginia, and then to war. Robert, a captain in the Stonewall Brigade, is captured during the fight at Sand Ridge and taken to a new Yankee prison in Alton, Illinois, despite Joseph's best efforts to save him.
Upon hearing the news, Isabelle realizes Robert may very well die of starvation and disease, yet she encounters often cruel opposition as she tries to assert her new independent attitude. Only the surprise appearance of her childhood friend, Eva Reed, gives her what little comfort a woman on the verge of widowhood can be given. Eva, a somewhat self-absorbed and flighty creature, arrives uninvited under mysterious circumstances, but soon reveals to Isabelle her espionage work for General Jackson. At first Isabelle balks at the unladylike position in the war, but the two realize they cannot remain divided in the face of enemy soldiers on Cavanaugh land.
Isabelle's neighbors discover the Yankee soldiers hiding out on the land when one shoots the other in broad daylight. A captive in her own home, Isabelle decides she must flee with her toddler son and Eva, especially after a mob with torches takes her for a Yankee sympathizer. The threesome make their way to St. Louis where they mistakingly believe Robert is held. A copperhead, Drusella Sappington, helps the women formulate a plan to help Robert escape, but Eva's selfish nature sabotages the dangerous escape. Isabelle finds herself thrown in the same prison, deemed hysterical and traitorous. Together, Isabelle and a debilitated Robert must overcome the odds and tunnel fifty feet underground for their freedom and their very lives.
Will they make it out alive?