Jacob Hansen is the town of Friendship’s undertaker, sheriff, and pastor. When the town’s people begin to get sick, it is left to Hansen and the town’s doctor to care for the sick, bury the dead, and do what they can to protect the living. Hansen’s role becomes more and more difficult as it is left to him to make decisions about protecting the citizens of his town while his own family has issues of its own. This is the story of a good man who tries very hard with all his might to do the right thing… if only he knew what that was.

I not only found the writing in this book to be excellent and had a hard time putting it down, at odd moments the story still comes to mind and makes me think of how difficult it must have been to live in Civil War times – for more reasons than one.