The Charleston Gambit - romance amidst the brutal realities of the American Revolution

By Walter Edgar

Published January 25, 2022 at 6:04 PM EST

Troops wearing the Revolutionary War uniforms of the 9th Virginia Regiment, Corps of the Continental Line, participate in a drill and firing demonstration during the Cessation of Hostilities Bicentennial Celebration at the Pentagon River Plaza. The flag of the ceremonial 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment, Corps of the Continental Line, is carried in the background. — FILE - Troops wearing the Revolutionary War uniforms of the 9th Virginia Regiment, Corps of the Continental Line, participate in a drill and firing demonstration during the Cessation of Hostilities Bicentennial Celebration at the Pentagon River Plaza.

This week on Walter Edgar’s Journal we offer a conversation recorded before an audience, live as well as virtual, at the Charleston Literary Festival in November of 2021. Walter Edgar talks with Stuart Bennett about his novel, The Charleston Gambit (2021, Evening Post Books) - a rousing tale of Revolutionary War South Carolina. Along with the battles, it gives glimpses of Charleston fashion and society, faces head-on issues of slavery and plantation life, and tells an engaging love story.

Dr. Edgar and the author talk about Bennett's love of history, the novel's main characters, and the attitudes and personalities on both sides of the conflict that helped turn the American Revolution into a brutal civil war.