Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All

By: Allan Gurganus

Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh

Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and fans alike fell in love with the voice of 99-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the 20th century, when she was 15 and her husband was 50.

If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood. Lucy's story encompasses everything from the tragic death of a Confederate boy soldier to the feisty narrator's daily battles in the Home - complete with visits from a mohawk-coiffed candy striper.

Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All is a marvel of narrative showmanship and proof that brilliant, emotional storytelling remains at the heart of great fiction.

©1984 Allan Gurganus (P)2018 Recorded Books

Run on/TMI/Mixed up never ending story!

Narration fine. Author a man wtiting a woman's point of view has more than few un needed storylines. Was really looking forward to this book...mixed up timelines made it tiresome to finish. Author had lots of detail but mixed it up and went on and on w it presented by a woman that had no way of knowing it all. If I was interviewing this woman I wouldn't have listened this long to it.

Well worth every moment

Such a rich story, and so well narrated! I could shut my eyes and listen, and feel every word.

Dated.

This book was written in the time when it was OK to write about the glory days of Southern white supremacy. Nowadays, It seems offensive to me. That's just my opinion.

The main character Lucy is an awesome woman. I don't know if she is fictional or not? Nevertheless, she had to bear a lot of pain and suffering in her long marriage to that awful man.

Make sure you listen until the end!

I cannot tell you how fantastic this narrator is. She was absolutely perfect for this book. I don’t think I have ever said that before. As to the story it could have been shortened a bit but in retrospect it might have lost some of its flavor. Was extremely interesting and very well done. I usually read mysteries but was glad I did take the time to read this. Excellent book worth the time

Very well-written and narrated

I thoroughly enjoyed the narration of this Oldest Confederate Widow telling all.
The Widow’s re-telling of her late husband’s war stories, their families’ stories, and her friend’s story of being kidnapped from Africa with her village and forced into slavery with the Marsden family before being freed during Sherman’s march to the sea was superbly written. Highly recommended.