THE WITNESS TREE

A Civil War puzzle perplexes a pair of museum archivists in this novel.

As in Steinmetz’s debut, Codename: Sob Story (2013), the author reaches back into America’s history in this work to spin a story bringing the past into vivid focus. Breanne Walker, a Pennsylvania archival preservationist with the Gettysburg National Military Park’s museum, is summoned one night to investigate a 150-year-old white oak “witness tree” suddenly struck by lightning in a freak summer storm. The tree once stood on the famous Civil War battleground but has now been toppled, and, within the exposed roots, Breanne and her boss, Greg Ransome, discover the human remains of a Confederate soldier and a tattered diary. Assigned by Greg to this confidential archival project, she breathlessly focuses on the historic journal, written in 1863 and with just the author’s identifying initials. The diary’s verbatim contents run alongside Breanne’s swift carbon dating and DNA analysis, and this combination sparks notes of mystery and tension. Breanne has a short amount of time to research the body and the book before media outlets demand answers. In addition, if controlling Gettysburg lead archivist Peggy Cupples discovers Breanne doing the Battle of Gettysburg work meant for her tier of command at the museum, she will lose her job. The intriguing diary serves as a comprehensive, heavily detailed origin story, relating the life of farmer and medical midwife Abigail Pritchard, who was caught in an arranged marriage. She lived on the property where the battle took place; the “oppressive and frightening” warfare erupted all around her. With dogged research and the aid of enigmatic dreams, Breanne quickly puts all the clues together and digs deep into historical Civil War data. Events become a lot more complex before Breanne realizes the politics involved in her investigation and the moral choice she must make as a result of her findings. Extensively researched, Steinmetz’s novel opens a window to the past and creates an intelligent and authentic character in Breanne. Embedded in her preservationist vocation is an immersive history lesson, spotlighting women’s roles in the Civil War. The author is a talented writer who is most proficient at fast-paced prose and a plot that fuses history with suspense.

A brisk epic wrapped in a character-driven mystery that historical fiction fans will savor.