With Chenneville, author Paulette Jiles, who also wrote News of the World, delivers another immersive, Civil War era historical fiction novel. This one is centered on John Chenneville, a Union officer who wakes up in a Virginia hospital after suffering a severe head injury during a battle. The story follows John as he returns to post-Civil War Missouri, discovers his beloved sister and her family have been murdered, and hunts the killer across Missouri, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

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I read Chenneville as part of the 2025 Thoughtful Reading Challenge. June’s challenge was to read a book set during the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. This topic ties in nicely with Juneteenth, a date that commemorates when slaves in Galveston, TX learned that they were freed by the Emancipation Proclamation (2 1/2 years after the proclamation was issued – news traveled slowly in 1860’s America!)

Let’s begin with a Chenneville summary.

The medical staff in the Virginia hospital are amazed when John Chenneville awakens from a coma. He suffered a head injury during a Confederate artillery attack. The fact that John is tall and strong probably saved him from an early grave. However, the head wound has left him a bit uncoordinated and confused by things like numbers. He’s also lost a lot of his memory. Despite his physical and mental unsteadiness, John soon travels to his hometown, just north of St. Louis, MO, and halfway across the United States.

The comfort of being home soon disintegrates when John learns the devastating news that his sister, her husband, and her baby had all been shot and their bodies dumped in a stream. His brother-in-law had fought for the Confederacy, so that’s a possible motive, but John soon finds out that the murders were more sinister than taking revenge on a former enemy. I mean, who in their right mind shoots a baby??

John now has a new battle to fight – this one with his sister’s murderer. He sets out on a journey of revenge to track down the killer, a deputy sheriff named A. J. Dodd. One of the first things he discovers is that these aren’t the first murders associated with Dodd. He seems to be tracking down a serial killer, which adds even more importance to his task.

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His quest takes him through a chaotic, lawless area suffering in the aftermath of war. Along the way, he’s injured, adopted by a stray dog, encounters former soldiers and slaves, stonewalled by law enforcement, and pursued by a U. S. Marshall for a murder he didn’t commit. On the positive side, he is frequently treated with kindness by strangers and even meets a love interest – a fellow telegrapher named Victoria.

In the end, Dodd receives the fate he deserves if not the one John envisioned. Free of the burden of revenge, John is finally able to focus on what he wants his post-war life to be, and that life just might include Victoria. The author left this part vague, so I’m going to go with John and Victoria get married and have a bunch of little baby telegraphers who communicate with each other in Morse Code.

Chenneville is another terrific book by Paulette Jiles, who excels at historical fiction.

The characters are very well done, especially John who is a brave and honorable man. He finds honor in avenging his sister’s death and approaches the task with a single-minded determination. I think he had to be so focused because his thoughts were so scattered from the head injury. Tracking down Dodd was something he could focus on and accomplish.

The peripheral characters are also interesting and include an Englishman at an isolated telegraph outpost on the American frontier, a kind-hearted male nurse with a stealing problem, and a female telegraph operator (rare for that time) who is skilled at transmitting in pig Latin.

This story is a classic hero’s journey, which the author leverages to educate readers about the post-Civil War period. John doesn’t just encounter unique characters; he also experiences situations that illustrate the nature of that time period. These events range from the mundane – being required to show his discharge papers to soldiers and law enforcement – to extreme lawlessness – tracking a serial killer that authorities seem disinterested in bringing to justice.

I also appreciated the details of daily life in the mid-1800s. Those living then had to be resourceful and tough. John was well suited to that environment, able to do everything from making bread from scratch to surviving the winter despite having to mostly sleep outside. Not only was this a good refresher on frontier life, but it made me admire John even more. He’s a good man and I rooted for him to do the right thing.

I like Paulette Jiles’s writing style. It’s very descriptive without being flowery. She’s very good at immersing the reader in the place and time of her stories. And for Chenneville, she even used quotation marks (which were absent in News of the World.). She is a Missouri native, and, as a resident of Missouri, I enjoyed learning a bit more about my state. I had forgotten how much French influence there is in St. Louis, which I know is stupid because it’s named for a French king and saint. What can I say? I’m really a Kansas gal.

I recommend Chenneville to readers who like Civil War fiction or novels that take place on the edge of the American frontier. Good story!

If you took June’s challenge, please tell us what you read by leaving a comment.

**Reminder – July’s challenge is to read an epistolary or semi-epistolary novel. In other words, a book in which letters, emails, and text messages play a key role in advancing the plot and developing characters.

For more great historical fiction from Paulette Jiles, check out my book reviews of News of the World and Enemy Women.

And if you enjoy Civil War novels, peruse my curated book list, 15 Novels Set During the American Civil War.