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by Henry G. Brinton (Author)
The United States is more fractured today than it has been since the Civil War. What hope do we have for the healing of our communities, shattered by a global pandemic and a toxic political environment? War Bug opens a window on the riverfront town of Occoquan, Virginia, and offers glimpses of social upheaval through chapters that alternate between the nineteenth and twenty-first centuries. In 1862, Quaker resident Ann Bagley fears that her sons will abandon their pacifism and join the newly established Confederate army. Troops march through the town and shots are fired, enflaming secessionists and Unionists alike. Many pledge their support to the South and send their sons to fight, while others favor the North and take stands as abolitionists. In 2022, Harley Camden, the pastor of struggling Riverside Methodist Church, fears that civil war will return to Occoquan. Facing cultural and political polarization, he tries to care for his congregation and keep the peace, even as he lends a hand in the archaeological dig of a Quaker house with a mysterious grave. But when people begin to die in acts of brutal violence, he encounters an evil that is deeper than history and more deadly than partisan strife.
Author Biography
Henry G. Brinton is the pastor of Fairfax Presbyterian Church in Virginia. He has written on religion and culture for The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and Huffington Post. A resident of Occoquan, Virginia, he has written three novels set in the historic town: City of Peace (2018), Windows of the Heavens (2021), and War Bug (2024).
