Local author publishes new novel - THE WOMAN SHE LEFT BEHIND

Ionia County novelist Tom Huggler’s new historical fiction has just been released. THE WOMAN SHE LEFT BEHIND is the untold, true story of a Sunfield farm widow who left three children with her hired man to enter a Civil War battle zone in search of her dying son.  

Traveling alone into the heart of darkness, Rachel Barnum’s journey to Missouri in the spring of 1862 is either a hero’s odyssey or a fool’s errand. She needs to find Dwight, a 19-year-old soldier with Michigan’s 2^nd cavalry.

Mounting obstacles lead to a large Rebel force entrenched on a Mississippi River island. Rachel fears her chances of finding Dwight in time to save him are shrinking each day she’s gone from her 10-year-old twin girls and another son, 16, who can’t abide the hired man.

With time running out, Rachel faces an agonizing decision: abandon her firstborn to the ravages of war and go back to family and the man she loves? Or fight on against all odds?

The 400-page novel, published by Sunacumen Press in September 2025, is available in paperback and e-reader from bookstores, Amazon, and the author at https://TomHuggler.com .  

Note:  Tom Huggler is a fulltime freelance writer and author of 20 non-fiction books. THE WOMAN SHE LEFT BEHIND is his second novel.