About the Book
In Dawson’s Fall, a novel based on the lives of Roxana Robinson’s great-grandparents, we see America at its most fragile, fraught, and malleable. Set in 1889, in Charleston, South Carolina, Robinson’s tale weaves her family’s journal entries and letters with a novelist’s narrative grace, and spans the life of her tragic hero, Frank Dawson, as he attempts to navigate the country’s new political, social, and moral landscape.
Dawson, a man of fierce opinions, came to this country as a young Englishman to fight for the Confederacy in a war he understood as a conflict over states’ rights. He later became the editor of the Charleston News and Courier, finding a platform of real influence in the editorial column and emerging as a voice of the New South. With his wife and two children, he tried to lead a life that adhered to his staunch principles: equal rights, rule of law, and nonviolence, unswayed by the caprices of popular opinion. But he couldn’t control the political whims of his readers. As he wrangled diligently in his columns with questions of citizenship, equality, justice, and slavery, his newspaper rapidly lost readership, and he was plagued by financial worries. Nor could Dawson control the whims of the heart: his Swiss governess became embroiled in a tense affair with a drunkard doctor, which threatened to stain his family’s reputation. In the end, Dawson—a man in many ways representative of the country at this time—was felled by the very violence he vehemently opposed.
My Review
I don’t read historical fiction often, but I’ve been trying to switch up my reading lists lately and wanted to give this one a try. The first half of the story I did struggle getting in to – it read pretty slow and more on the non-fiction side, which is also not a top contender for genres I prefer. I wanted to keep reading because I was interested to learn the story of author Roxana Robinson’s great grandparents and their experience living in Charleston after the Civil War. The second half of the book did seem pretty different than the first – more fast-paced, read more fiction-like and I ended up learning quite a bit from the story. While not a top favorite for someone who enjoys more chick lit or suspense novels, I still ended up enjoying the read.
3.5 stars
