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M. E. Hubbs
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The Secret of Wattensaw Bayou Kindle Edition

by M.E. Hubbs (Author), Tracy Lyndon (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 out of 5 stars 223
See all formats and editions
In the twilight days of slavery. . .
Thirteen year old Ephraim Wright suffers the depredations of war along with the white family who reared him. Raised with the family since he was two years old, he is never once required to call Jonathan Wright, his benevolent owner, "master." His speech, manners and outlook on life are more akin to his white "siblings than the other slaves in the community who chide him for being a "pet" and "talkin' like white folk." He is stranded between two worlds; that of free whites, and of enslaved blacks. His life is irreversibly changed when Confederate conscript officers take the family's oldest son at gun point and a bushwhacker gang guns down Jonathan Wright. The law forbids a slave to touch a firearm, because a “negro with a gun is a nervous thing to white folks.” But where his family is concerned, Ep is never one to care about what the slave laws say. By seeking to send men to hell, will Ephraim send himself there as well?

Advance Praise for The Secret of Wattensaw Bayou
While reading the book my feelings of anger and resentment toward the institution of slavery and those who fought to protect such rights were sometimes overwhelming and required me to take a deep breath. Nevertheless, the story from a historical perspective, although it was a work of fiction, was masterly woven and I found myself with the urge to continue reading. . . The book is well written and the author provides a fascinating glimpse into the everyday existence of many Southern families during the Civil War. Commander Harold Barnes (US Navy, retired)
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  1. Reading age
    10 - 18 years
  2. Print length
    172 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publication date
    May 25, 2013
  5. Page Flip
    Enabled
  6. Word Wise
    Enabled
  7. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  8. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Overall, this story,it's characters and setting are strong and nicely developed. The dialogue flows well, and is believable. Ep's voice is firm as he recounts his childhood as a slave. The style is easy and smooth and will be well received by young readers. There seems to be some secret here as well, regarding a murder, that will, no doubt, bring some twists and turns to the ending. Overall,this is a strong excerpt, very nicely put together and presented with care.

Amazon.com Review

Very original and intriguing pitch/plot. The narrative voice is consistent, if occasionally a little stilted or cliched. ("“Heh, heh, well tellin’ stories is one thing I can do! Yes ma’am. I can tell you some stories about the War.")

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00D0HRKLC
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Bluewater Publications LLC (May 25, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ May 25, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1631 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 172 pages
  • Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1934610763
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 223

About the author

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M. E. Hubbs

M. E. Hubbs

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Mark Hubbs is an eleven year veteran of the U.S. Army Infantry. He left active duty in 1992 and retired from the Army Reserve in 2001. Since leaving active duty he worked as a historic preservation specialist and archaeologist for the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command before his retirement in 2019. His work has taken him to several far flung islands in the Pacific where the fierce battles of World War II have left relics both above and below the surface of the corral sand.

Besides the extensive non-fiction writing that Mark does for his job, he has also written non-fiction for several history related magazines and journals. The Secret of Wattensaw Bayou was his first novel.

Mark has had a life-long passion for history. This interest ranges from battles and leaders to the more mundane cultural and material history of the common people who were the real heroes of the past. History is more than anything else the story of ordinary people and how those people reacted to extraordinary circumstances. For almost four decades Mark has learned first hand how the people of the past lived by participating in costumed living history programs at scores of American battlefields and historic sites.

Mark belongs to several history related organizations including The Company of Military Historians and The Sons of the American Revolution. He is a co-founder of the Tennessee Valley Civil War Round Table.

In 2017 Mark founded Eras Gone Bullet Molds, a small business that provides molds for obsolete historic projectiles for use in modern reproduction black powder weapons. www.erasgonebullets.webstarts.com.

Mark holds a Bachelor's in History from Henderson State University in Arkansas, a Masters in Environmental Management from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama and a Masters in Archaeology from Leicester University in the United Kingdom.

Huntsville, Alabama has been home for Mark and his wife Phyllis since 1989. They have three children and six grandchildren.

Author's Website: www.mehubbs.com

You can read Mark's history and archaeology blog at: http://erasgone.blogspot.com/

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
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223 global ratings
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Top reviews from the United States

Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent story line!
Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2023
Verified Purchase
The author wrote an enlightening fictional historical story about slavery, the civil war and life in general in a small town in the south. Very enjoyable read!
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Don Kidwell
4.0 out of 5 stars "Dey is devils and good people walking de road at de same time. Sad thing is, can't alus tell one from t'other..."
Reviewed in the United States on June 17, 2016
Verified Purchase
Fine work of historical fiction that really draws you in with regards to the plot and many likeable, well-developed characters. From deep meaningful passages like "I realized at that moment that I had become a slave to my bitterness as much as a slave to my master" to light-hearted affairs to make you laugh like "We all be glad when you take dat dang hanky home wid you. I done had to look at it about a hunert times!" book covered the bases of emotions allowing you to walk in the path of the protagonist through times both thick and thin. Overall author writes very well, I was definitely engaged by the story line and would also like to read his book "The Archer's Son" sometime soon as well. Very good book!
2 people found this helpful
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, Great Characters and Story!
Reviewed in the United States on December 15, 2023
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Hubs does an excellent job of holding readers' interest while intertwining historic facts and feelings of racial and other prejudices!
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Brenda
5.0 out of 5 stars Ep being the narrator to a woman researching his life as a slave to the family that treated him like a son when no other whites
Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2016
Verified Purchase
This was a grand story of the slave troubles during the Civil War. Ep being the narrator to a woman researching his life as a slave to the family that treated him like a son when no other whites were around. The story, based on a real family, was very well researched and the characters believable. I came to love the whole family and traveled with them as they brought the hogs in from the woods, tended their fields and struggled with the terribleness of the war. This is no sob story. It is told about real happenings in a time of America's history that we look back on and wish things could have been different. Thank you Mr. Hubbs for a wonderful story.
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Annie Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent view of the Civil War
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2013
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Although The Secret of Wattensaw Bayou is a work of historical fiction, it reads like history. The locations, characterizations, and dialogue all ring true to the south.. The text flows seamlessly and the reader feels totally engaged in the action.

As a writer of historical fiction, I feel this is a superb portrayal of the south during the Civil War.

Annie Laura Smith
The Legacy of Bletchley Park, Will Paris Burn?, Saving da Vinci and Alexandra's Secret .
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Richard
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Page Turner
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2016
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Two genres of books always draw me in...those located in Florida (lived there for 35 years) and those set in Louisiana (lived there 10 years and ran inland crewboats throughout Acadiana). While I'm not fond of fictitious names for places like Wattensaw Bayou I could identify with the terrain roughly described. Overall I liked the people in the story and the plot line of who the bad guys actually were was well done. Not literature by any means but a book that kept me turning the pages, so to speak, on my iPad.
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S. Lee Butler
5.0 out of 5 stars wonderful read!!!
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2013
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This story grabbed me from the beginning, and I was hooked! Loved traveling through the memories of Ep, and felt transported to another place, another time. Just the right amount of detail without getting bogged down, and felt connected to the characters. Had a hard time putting the book down. I would highly recommend this to anyone, especially those who love history, Arkansans, and young people. Would be such a great lesson of what it was like in some areas during those hard, and confusing times of our Country and her people. Thank you for such a wonderful read, and am looking forward to more!
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Mr. P. Reid
3.0 out of 5 stars catch your reader in the first five pages
Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2012
Verified Purchase
They say that you need to catch your reader's attention in the first five pages. Well, I had trouble getting through the first five pages of this, I am afraid. Your very first paragraph brought me to an abrupt halt, as it took me a few minutes to work out what was wrong with it. The first paragraph should grab the reader by the throat and drag him into your story.
Either put your first paragraph in the past and use 'he had' or put it in the present and use 'he has' in the sentence "two miles he has run".
I thought starting with the old guy might have been a bit of a mistake as teenagers like to read about teenagers and might not make it as far as the main story if they pick it up in a shop to look at.
Your main story came along and I was left wondering who on earth all these people in it were, as you do very little to properly introduce them and sketch their differences and characters. You can do this in a few well chosen words, it doesn't have to be full paragraphs.
I think the word Army, should be without a capital letter. You are just talking about the army, it is not a proper noun.
You use an awful lot of tell, not show, which slows the action of the story down a lot. You need to drip feed the tell in, not download it in chunks. That would give your story more vitality.
As I got further into the excerpt I found some descriptions that I liked, and some information that was interesting and attempted to persuade me that we really were in 1862, but overall I had no sense of the time from the excerpt.
It is an interesting idea, but I think it still needs quite a bit of work. I think if you iron out some of your errors of tense, take out as much tell as you can and replace it with showing us what is happening, you will be able to grab your reader and keep her attention.
My grades are
5 stars - for what I think might make the semis
4 stars - for what I think is still pretty good
3 stars - for everything else that needs work etc
Hope you find this constructive
5 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Canada on June 7, 2016
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loved it
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