Politics, Friendship, or Greed? Which of these was the true author of the Confederate conspiracy to decapitate the Union?The Absolution of Mars by T.F. Troy is a masterful blend of historical fiction, human drama and moral exploration. Set against the backdrop of a racially fraught period in American history, the story does not back away from the harsh realities or racial biases of the day.The narrative introduces Jemm Pender, a former slave with a superior intellect, who rises to become a key agent in the National Detective Police Force. Jemm is tasked to trace the movements of J. W. Boyd, a Confederate spy working out of Canada.From its intriguing opening scene, where playful dialogue among children hints at deeper mysteries, the story captivates with a blend of vivid detail and emotional depth. Jemm’s quest intertwines with his wife Marnie and Aunt Cordelia, both blessed with remarkable capabilities that are being lost to the scientific thought of the day.Troy tackles difficult topics with honesty and precision, creating moments that are as painful as they are profound. The prose is rich and evocative, with dialogue that breathes life into the characters and their struggles. The Absolution of Mars is a poignant, thought-provoking exploration of history, identity, and humanity, recommended for readers seeking depth and nuance.

BOOK EXCERPT
A single distant scream pierces through the misty night. Down U street and up 10th the lamplighters have done their job as they had done the night before for the Grand Illumination, kicking off a weekend of celebration. Flickering gas lamps shrouded in a halo of pulsating golden light—lining the streets — the city alight with the potential for an all-night celebration.But something has gone terribly wrong,Jemm doesn’t know how he knows, he just knows. And he feels a pit in his stomach, his arumbo, as his ancestors called it, a sixth sense that tells when trouble is coming. Marnie had predicted something like this. But Jemm thought himself above her predictions, which seemed childlike, denying even his own arumbo.A man of science and observation, Jemm has no time for tribal shibboleths and superstitions. But Marnie does have a knack for things like this. And she does have the Ovambo talent for reading people. It not only commands Jemm’s respect, sometimes it scares him.Jemm sits in the window of the fourth floor of his dwelling in what the whites call “darkie town” where Marnie has made a home. Early on in the Great Conflict, even before the Emancipation Proclamation, President Lincoln freed more than 3,000 slaves, most now working as servants. Many live in this neighborhood, which is attracting more freedmen and women heading north to freedom every day.From his perch above the city, Jemm sees the trouble moving its way across town, fanning out in a concentric circle; moving from house to house, from street to street, to neighborhood and neighborhoods beyond. The town reacting to desperate news in the middle of the night.It was just as his Aunt Cordelia said: You could see trouble moving, through nature, or through men, not by the trouble itself, but its effect—just as you couldn’t see the wind, but you could see how it would bend and sway trees—or how birds would fly or small animals run away from danger.A foggy night with cold and rain in the offing, Jemm can smell it in the air. The stove by the window, takes the chill off. Marnie is still asleep in the ondijungo, but Jemm knows she will soon travel back to the living.Jemm spots a single lantern in the spire of St. John’s on Lafayette when he hears the first bell. Then a light from behind throws flickering shadows on the wall in front.It’s Marnie.“Here it comes, just like I told,” she says, grabbing his shoulders.The night before she had one of her dreams. Aunt Cordelia had taken her hand and walked her in a strange shape.“Dis the way it got to be Marnie. Dis here da way it is,” Cordelia says to her from the ethereal.When she waked the next morning, Marnie realizes she’s been walked in the shape of a coffin. Someone important to her is dead or going to die.