Lincoln Raw: a biographical novel

Soul of a poet, son of a farmer, Abraham Lincoln tells his own coming-of-age story.

Abraham Lincoln’s boyhood dies when his father drags their family into an unforgiving Indiana wilderness. While suffering rebuke for teaching himself to read and write, he endures rumors of illegitimate birth, escapes death a half dozen times, labors to repay his father’s debts, and grieves the deaths of his brother, mother, sister, and beloved sweetheart. He casts off his parents’ religion, becomes estranged from his closest friend, and loses faith in his own character when he breaks an engagement to marry a woman he doesn’t love. Unable to keep a pledge made to his dying mother to become someone special, he wrestles with self-doubt and spirals into depression. He abandons politics and resigns himself to a life of mediocrity. But when his long-time rival opens the door for slavery’s expansion across half the globe, he faces the greatest challenge of his life—his beloved country is being ripped apart.