Quilly Hall. Benjamin W. Farley

Quilly Hall weds fiction and history in this powerful story, set in the 1940s in the Holston Valley near the town of Abingdon, Virginia. Daniel Boone twice camped here. The town itself served as a rail hub during the Civil War and cared for the wounded in its hospitals. The novel's title refers to a statuette whose presence in the old home's hallway haunts the story. Farley's novel traces the life of Thomas Edmonds, an only son whose father was killed in the battle for Guadalcanal, and who is raised by a bevy of family who regale him with their proud past. One of his ancestors–a veteran of the Battle of Chickamauga–is alleged to have buried a treasure under a rock in the fabled Knobs above the home place. Foray after foray is mounted in search of this rock and its secret. A favorite uncle and scruffy farmhands become Tom's mentors until he matures, attends Harvard, marries, and leaves for Vietnam.
Farley's style and his story are gripping, compelling, and melodic. You will fall in love with each character and grieve as one by one they pass on.