Across Five Aprils - Irene Hunt

This was our last historical fiction read of the year.  We read a lot of really great books this year, but this was my personal favorite.  The writing is just gorgeous and the story is so beautiful and bittersweet.  This is a deeply intimate story of one family and how they cope with the repercussions of the Civil War.  It does a remarkable job of conveying the brutality and ugliness of the times without ever actually setting foot on a battlefield.