Transcription of draft of a novel that drew upon Chesnut's own life experiences; edited by Elisabeth Muhlenfeld as part of her graduate work toward a dissertation completed in 1978; transcribed from original manuscripts in the Williams-Chesnut-Manning papers at South Caroliniana Library. In this volume, Chesnut dramatizes the tensions between a widowed mother, Joanna Effingham, and her four daughters from the antebellum period, through Civil War and the postwar years. The primary story line follows the romantic life of Emily, the youngest sister in a family of strong women; the plot includes an attempted suicide by the character, Margaret, the mild-mannered sister. Although a work of fiction, Chesnut incorporates descriptions recorded in her diary, such as women's nursing of the wounded soldiers in Richmond hospitals, and impact of the Civil War and the Confederate defeat on all aspects of life in the South.
