Super Short Summary

Set in Eastern Tennessee during the American Civil War, William O. Steele’s historical fiction, The Perilous Road (1958), follows a boy named Chris Brabson who lives with his family in a rural area in the mountains. When the Union Army advances, appropriating his family's critical supplies, they struggle to survive winter. Compelled to help the Confederate Army to avenge his family, Brabson becomes aware of the war's complexity. The novel vividly depicts adolescence, rural life, and civil war.