ABOUT THE AUTHOR...

Nicholas J. Canfield was born in New York City in 1822. He attended the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, and in 1847, undertook the arduous and uncertain journey to California via St. Joseph, Missouri, and the Oregon/California Trail. Arriving that autumn in what is now San Francisco, he was among the first to learn of the gold discovery at Sutter’s Mill in January, 1848. Nick returned to New York City and in 1849 authored a well-received book based upon his western adventure. Subsequently, he was publisher of the literary review Getches Monthly, then editor of the Baltimore Weekly Intelligencer newspaper, prior to becoming a battlefield correspondent soon after the start of the American Civil War.

BUT SERIOUSLY...

Nicholas J. Canfield is an entirely fictional character. Because it seemed inappropriate to publish a memoir by someone other than the person who lived the experience and who tells the story, "Nicholas J. Canfield" got the byline. Several true historic figures play parts in the novel, and considerable care has been invested in portraying them as they were in life -- even if the portrayal may not agree with popular perceptions.

BEHIND EVERY GOOD MAN...

The living author is Jeanette Clinkunbroomer, a freelance writer based in the Chicago, Illinois, area. She's been a journalist and editor for more than 20 years and has that much in common with Nick Canfield. She holds a degree in English literature and has an abiding interest in American history.

Ms. Clinkunbroomer undertook All Out of Heart as the second installment of Nick Canfield's memoirs. "I started out to write a very different book," she commented. "I didn't know much more about the Civil War than Ken Burns' documentary when I began. Five years of research, including travel to just about every site mentioned in the book -- from Pennsylvania and Maryland to Georgia and South Carolina -- completely changed my perspective on this critical event in American history.

"I read the history, diaries, letters, and even newspapers chronologically while writing the novel, trying to share in some way the anxiety, despair, and hope that Nick and other characters felt as the war dragged on. They didn't know how it was going to end, and it came to overshadow everything else in their lives. However, because I'm not a historian, most of my research was through published sources. At one point I spoke to a man who had stacks of letters from a great grand-uncle who'd been a Civil War soldier, and he said he'd be happy to let me read them. The day we were supposed to meet was September 11, 2001, and I never got to see the letters. That was a lesson about how quickly the world and our personal priorities can change. I'm certain the same was true in 1861."

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