"By the Red Glare establishes Mark Sibley-Jones as a fine new voice in southern fiction. With great skill and ample ambition, he gives us a deeply felt human story of love, labor, and liberty set against a moment of horrid and grandiose destruction, the origins and implications of which are contested in history and lore to this day--the burning of Columbia, South Carolina.

Sibley-Jones's characters, both historical and invented, loom up as great symbols of the cruelty and courage inherent in the Civil War-torn South, but the truths we glean from their riveting story resonate still today, passing the test of historical fiction with high honors."

One may be disinclined to read deeply into the recent run of historical novels, chiefly because most seem of a piece, as formulaic and unrewarding as a generic romance or political thriller.

Refreshingly, John Mark Sibley-Jones' novel is commendably devoid of the usual cliches, holds romanticized notions of the Civil War and antebellum life to scrutiny and invests its story with depth and richly drawn lead characters....