Basil Biggs, a freeborn black farmer in Gettysburg, is forced to flee his home when the Confederate Army invades the town. After three days of hiding, he hears rumors that the battle is over and rides out to check on his farm. However, he stumbles onto a dying rebel called Wesley Culp, who, apart from claiming to have spoken to his deceased mother, Rosalie, also entrusts him with personal items to deliver to his loved ones. Almost immediately, Biggs runs into Union soldiers who, upon hearing about his encounter, check out the rebel and confirm he has been dead for days. Biggs thought he was losing his mind, but he has the items the rebel gave him. Now behind Union lines, he meets Captain Babcock, a spy for the Bureau of Military Information, who brings him aboard the Union war effort. As Biggs enters the battlefield and takes on his assigned tasks, an entity he first believes to be his mother’s spirit is about to haunt and guide him. What does it want? Find out in Season of Life by Jeff Janoda.

If you are looking for a historical novel laced with mystery, magical realism, ancient myth, psychological thriller, action, and suspense, Season of Life by Jeff Janoda is a great pick. Janoda takes readers back to Gettysburg in 1863, at the Civil War’s climax, with steady narration and vivid imagery. I could see the battle-scarred setting of the town, from the forest floor blanketed with fresh green leaves, stripped by gunfire on Culp’s Hill, to the blood-stained makeshift hospitals teeming with wounded soldiers, and the chaos on Cemetery Ridge and the battlefield. I could almost smell the stench of waste and corpses. As I followed the young nurse Cornelia Hancock and Biggs, together with his allies, I got a clear picture of the stakes and struggles both medical personnel and soldiers faced during the war. Janoda also highlights the social realities black people experienced during that era. I understood Biggs’ fear of capture and enslavement by the Confederates, and how it influenced his decisions. Here, the Civil War action is told through the lens of the supernatural, a black farmer, a Union spy, and a strong-willed young nurse.

Jeff Janoda’s Season of Life is set in Pennsylvania in July 1863, where Black farmer Basil Biggs waits for the Battle of Gettysburg to end after sending his family to Harrisburg. Confederate troops have swept through the county seizing Black residents, leaving Basil hidden in a Quaker farmer’s barn until word comes that the army is retreating. He heads home across a countryside transformed by battle, determined to find what remains of his rented farm. His return brings him to John Babcock, a Union intelligence officer tracking the Confederate withdrawal. Cornelia Hancock, a young Quaker woman from New Jersey, is traveling toward Gettysburg to nurse injured Union soldiers. As the town begins reckoning with the aftermath, Basil senses that his late mother Rosalie’s connection to the dead may have passed to him.

Jeff Janoda’s Season of Life brings wartime Pennsylvania into view through historical detail that gives the setting a lived-in quality. The best character is Charlie Wright, a fourteen-year-old Black boy who has lived among the Confederate army. He's instantly sympathetic, with intelligence that feels natural. The author develops Charlie as a fully realized young man whose determination to direct his own future comes through in every decision. His intelligence is excellent, especially in his use of memorized Confederate unit flags to provide information to Union intelligence officers. Gettysburg itself has an unmistakable character, especially in cemetery tents where soldiers’ belongings cover long tables for searching families. The work of recovering scattered bodies gives the town a sobering reality suited to wartime Pennsylvania. Thoughtful historical fiction deserves this kind of grounding, giving readers drawn to Civil War stories every reason to put this at the top of their reading list. Very highly recommended.

Jeff Janoda’s Season of Life begins in July 1863, plunging you straight into the complicated aftermath of the Civil War’s most brutal battle. The story revolves around Basil Biggs, a free Black veterinarian who had to flee his home when the fighting started, and Captain John Babcock, a Union intelligence officer tracking the retreating enemy. Then there’s Cornelia Hancock, a brave 23-year-old Quaker woman who throws herself into the nightmare of battlefield nursing. While Basil links up with Babcock’s scout team for a high-stakes reconnaissance mission, an ancient, timeless spirit takes on the form of a dead soldier named Wesley Culp to watch their lives unfold. Fascinated by their human struggles, this immortal being reshapes how they see life before Basil eventually helps set up a final resting place for the veterans. It makes you wonder how these characters can survive a fractured country when a timeless spirit is tracking their every move.

Season of Life by Jeff Janoda is a compelling historical novel that really gets to the heart of what it means to be resilient. Janoda’s writing is very immersive, bringing the grim realities of Gettysburg and Camp Letterman to life without missing a beat. The stakes feel huge because the plot plays out on both a grounded, historical level and a supernatural one, keeping the story moving forward. Janoda has a real gift for character building, showing us historical people who hold onto their dignity even while dealing with brutal trauma and systemic racism. I found the themes of love and survival deeply moving, especially during the unique visions the wandering spirit grants the characters. It’s fascinating to watch the book shift gears so smoothly between tense tactical military scouting and the profound thoughts of this immortal trickster. The whole story builds up to a beautiful tribute to human endurance. If you’re a history fan, you really should read this touching tale.

Season of Life by Jeff Janoda opens in the year 1863 with Basil Biggs, a black farmer and free man from the North whose Pennsylvania farm was ruined by Southern troops after the Battle of Gettysburg. Thousands of rebel soldiers lie wounded and untended across the battlefield, and thousands more are dead. Biggs meets Union spymaster John Babcock, who must track the Confederate army as it retreats. To his surprise, he hears the spirit of his late mother, the famous healer Rosalie Biggs, who helps him. Meanwhile, young Cornelia Hancock arrives on the battlefield as a volunteer nurse and struggles with the awful conditions and her horror at what she witnesses. Biggs assists Babcock’s spy team with espionage work, carrying a wounded Babcock to the new field hospital on the battlefield, Camp Letterman, where Cornelia Hancock cares for Babcock. Soon after, Biggs begins the monumental task of re-interring the thousands of hastily buried Union soldiers across the battlefield into a new National Cemetery. All three are confronted by an ancient entity that appears as a wounded soldier, only to later discover they may be dealing with a ghost.

Season of Life serves double duty as good historical fiction with a supernatural element. Jeff Janoda captures the turbulence of life in the field hospitals after the Battle of Gettysburg, giving an accurate, yet disturbing picture of the many wounded Union and Confederate troops who fought in the Civil War. The focus on the three central protagonists adds to the novel's humanity. In Basil Biggs's story, we appreciate his struggles with racism from whites and some biracial people as well. Cornelia Hancock evolves from a young debutante seeking adventure as a volunteer nurse into a brave, caring clinician. John Babcock befriends Biggs while he battles a severe shoulder wound. Historical figures, from General Meade of the Army of the Potomac to President Lincoln, also take part in the story. Each chapter kept me wanting to see what happens next. I highly recommend Season of Life to anyone who likes historical fiction with a philosophical bent.