Birthright

Clay Blount

Birthright is a Civil War novel that's not just a play on history, but a visual feast of the times.
--William Kerr, author of the bestselling Path of the Golden Dragon and Death's Bright Angel

Birthright is an excellent tale - a retelling of the Cain and Abel story against the background of the American Civil War. Clay Blount weaves a large-scale plot of revenge, wealth, and romance that also paints a fine picture of wartime Vicksburg. Readers seeking a story rich with adventure and retribution will find it in this novel.
--Philip Lee Williams, author of A Distant Flame

Clay Bount's Birthright captures all the rich tradition of Gone With The Wind and couples it in style with all the thrill of great mystery writers. This unique blend gives Blount the distinction of launching a whole new breed of satisfying and exciting Southern storytelling.
--Joseph O. Patton, Capital City Free Press

My kind of mystery readers will love Birthright!
--Tony Hillerman, author of the popular Leaphorn/Chee series

Clay Blount is a natural storyteller. In Birthright he has woven an absorbing Civil War saga of revenge and redemption, moonlight and magnolias and the slavery that supported them, love and loss and good old-fashioned sex, all set against the bloody backdrop of the siege of Vicksburg.
--Edward Cohen, author of The Peddler's Grandson: Growing Up Jewish in Mississippi

Clay Blount has an unusual talent of not only presenting a gripping story, but teaching you of the Southern history we all live in the middle of - of mistakes made, of a heading. It is a beautiful story of hope and devotion.
--Joy G. Nause, Madison County Journal

Birthright is full of revenge, family wars and love. All Civil War buffs will be entranced by the vivid recollection of the war and the exceptional characters.
--Darlene Jolly, The Huntsville Times

Brother is pitted against brother in this Civil War novel, but not in the usual one-fights-for-the-North, one-for-the-South way. Birthright revolves instead around a feud that began when a Vicksburg planter died and left most of the family fortune to the oldest son. The excluded sibling, a rake, sues, and hires a killer, whose plot against the older brother fails. Just as war is breaking out, the miscreants flee; they will, of course, be back, and it is a strength of the book’s plot that the developments are credible but not predictable.

Meanwhile, civil war is breaking out, and Vicksburg becomes an early target of Union forces, who seek to control the Mississippi River. The town’s high position on a bluff over the river makes it easier to defend and Union general U.S. Grant eventually lays a siege. Rich details about the war and especially the siege help keep the story moving along, which it does to a satisfying finish.

about the author
Clay Blount graduated from the University of Mississippi and has worked for the last 18 years as a research engineer with the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vickburg. This is his first novel.