The Marsh Hen

A way of life vanishes. World War I. Liberation. A people devastated in a season of pandemic, shortages and family disorder. The three-carriage train floats over the low country salt water marshes to the barrier Tybee Island. The fort bursts at the seams with fresh, unworldly doughboys, ready to fight in the trenches of France. The draftees travel on the “furlough train”—“The Marsh Hen”—only to find death. David Taylor senses catastrophic epidemics. Personal issues consume his life and...
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A way of life vanishes. World War I. Liberation. A people devastated in a season of pandemic, shortages and family disorder. The three-carriage train floats over the low country salt water marshes to the barrier Tybee Island. The fort bursts at the seams with fresh, unworldly doughboys, ready to fight in the trenches of France. The draftees travel on the “furlough train”—“The Marsh Hen”—only to find death. David Taylor senses catastrophic epidemics. Personal issues consume his life and lead him to make unfortunate decisions, especially with Lorraine Atherton, a “fast” married woman who smokes cigarettes in public and lives in an uncontrolled scandal. First Lieutenant Scott Chase finds himself in a sexual triangle he sees as “criminal.” A rich cast of characters struggle against disease, war, prejudice and longing, revealing the true nature of Savannah ready to go to war—and the enemy not always a German.