Michael J. Roueche

Beyond the Wood Michael J. Roueche

2012 John Esten Cooke Award Winner

A book of treachery, peril, slackening resolve and thwarted love . . . and a little Southern Rebellion.


Romance has faded, and shame has weakened resolve. Mystery has shrouded the truth, and pride has matured into a world enveloped by rage and war. And the only constant is betrayal--and at times he is your sole companion. Yet, hope lingers . . .


Hank, a soldier for the Union, refuses retreat from his first bloodied action without proof he has been there, and he takes it from a dying enemy. Fed by the compassion he finds in the Confederate's last letter and his own unsettled dreams and troubling memories, Hank imagines a romance that drives him relentlessly toward an impossible rendezvous. All the while, Elizabeth, the widow, struggles with burdens left by her husband, even as neighbors conspire against her. And what is she to make of this Union soldier, this enemy, so set on coming to her?


Beyond the Wood is the recipient of the 2012 John Esten Cooke Award, recognition of fiction that with "effectiveness of research, accuracy of statement and excellence of style" accurately depicts the Civil War or Southern history.

It also has been honored as

• 2012 Finalist in Regional-Fiction, Next Generation Indie Book Awards
• The 2011 Silver Medalist: Historical Fiction, eLit Book Awards
• 2012 Merit Book, EVVY Awards.