Hell or Richmond: A Novel (The Battle Hymn Cycle Book 2)

Hell or Richmond is a historical novel set during Grant's Overland Campaign in the US Civil War. The book covers the period between May 5 and June 3, 1864, when Union and Confederate armies suffered 88,000 casualties, with 29,000 killed, wounded, or captured in the first two days alone. The narrative follows thirty days of combat through multiple perspectives, including Union general Francis Channing Barlow, Confederate colonel William C. Oates, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and various soldiers from both armies. Peters depicts the emergence of modern warfare and its impact on a divided nation, drawing on detailed historical research to portray both leaders and ordinary soldiers from North and South. This is the second book in The Battle Hymn Cycle. The novel won the American Library Association's 2014 Boyd Award for Literary Excellence in Military Fiction.