As the South reels following the Civil War, a group of survivors unite to rebuild a school in Tennessee. Over the next twenty years, they will navigate Reconstruction politics and social upheaval to found the University of the South. Told from eight perspectives--freed slaves, Confederate veterans, widows, students--These Hallowed Halls is an epic saga about building a university that has lasted for generations.
Founded in 1860 by Episcopal Clergy, the school's mission of providing an education to Southern elites is destroyed along with the rest of planter society in the ensuing war. The Confederate veterans who seek to rebuild must resist their fellow soldiers who wish to turn the school into a Southern West Point. Meanwhile, the freed slaves struggle to maintain their newfound rights against the Old South as they help rebuild. Widows seek a second chance at life by running boarding houses while students come to grips with the impact of the war on their parents. Between them all they must discover a new identity that does not involve slavery.
Set during one of the most turbulent times in American history, These Hallowed Halls is a work of historical fiction.