Bea Dot Ferguson has a life many in Savannah envy: a wealthy husband, a luxurious house, a baby on the way. But appearances are deceiving.
To hide a terrible secret, Bea Dot married a man she didn’t love—only to suffer his brutality later on. When her cousin Netta invites her for a visit in rural Pineview, Georgia, Bea Dot jumps at the chance to escape. But she soon learns she’s traded one perilous situation for another—Pineview has been infected with deadly Spanish influenza. As the epidemic escalates, Bea Dot and Netta must fight for survival. With the help of Will Dunaway, a recently returned Great War veteran, Bea Dot draws upon strength she never knew she had. As she and Will desperately try to avoid contagion, their mutual attraction grows, making them both the target of her husband’s wrath.
A sweeping Southern tale of hope and betrayal, love and loss, Dunaway’s Crossing is a moving testament to the strength of the human spirit.
Resources
More information about the 1918 influenza pandemic:
Nonfiction
- The Great Influenza: The Epic Story of the Deadliest Plague in History by John M. Barry, published by Penguin, 2004.
- Flu: The Story of the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and the Search for the Virus that Caused It by Gina Kolata, published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1999.
- America’s Forgotten Pandemic, by Alfred W. Crosby, published by Cambridge University Press, 1989.
Fiction
- Pale Horse, Pale Rider by Katherine Anne Porter
- Wickett’s Remedy by Myla Goldberg
- Divining Women by Kaye Gibbons
Video
- Influenza 1918, an episode of PBS documentary series, American Experience, broadcast in 1998, available for purchase or online viewing at http://www.pbs.org