In Wrath Remember Mercy: The Redemption of Torquil Dhu
By Aquila Dhu
GRAND JUNCTION, COLORADO – May 11, 2021 – PTSD during the Civil War? In an action and adventure novel releasing today, action and human reaction combine with internal struggles for a young Confederate soldier, in a dual crisis of faith and struggle to overcome the effects of war.
While today the term PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) has become familiar and expanded to include all trauma, research shows even back to Civil War times and earlier the concept was recognized, as warriors have always paid a toll in spirit and body.
What was called a “wounded spirit” or being “overwhelmed by catastrophe” during the Civil War, also became known as shell shock and battle fatigue in subsequent conflicts.
However, there is also another element of this for the person of faith, and that is the effect of trauma and war on one’s character and standing before God.
In her book, In Wrath Remember Mercy: The Redemption of Torquil Dhu, first-time author Aquila Dhu introduces us to a teenager who loves Virginia and his home on his family’s estate there. While the family opposes slavery, they are committed to their home and to Virginia, so he and his father and brother ride out to fight for the Confederacy.
Thus Torquil Dhu Drummond begins a journey that will test and nearly destroy him.
His natural leadership abilities lead him to victories on the battlefield first in the Civil War, then with the U.S. Army fighting the Indian Wars during the settling of the western territories.
But the story takes the reader even more intensely through the internal journey of this young, wounded warrior, battling demons within while facing enemies without. After witnessing the murder of his only living family members, his father and brother, he vows vengeance but lives to regret it.
His faith in God is the constant foundation throughout Torquil’s story and that faith rescues and redeems him, though at times the outcome is in doubt. He wrestles with leaving justice to God, but admits justice “puts things right and is like solid ground to walk on. “
After a fight tougher than any he experienced on the battlefield, he submits to God’s justice, recognizing it is an exacting and higher standard based on God’s eternal, perfect character. He learns the truth that God’s justice goes beyond reward and punishment to offer mercy and redemption, which is offered but must be accepted.
Woven with historical accuracy through the author’s years of study, the fictional account takes Torquil from a loving home in Virginia, to military service first in the Civil War, then to the west with the U.S. Army fighting the Indian Wars, returning at last to formal study at the Virginia Military Institute and home.
Yet moments of flashback suggest a personal knowledge of PTSD the author admits she has also experienced. Her own story of battling to forgive and live beyond the trauma is revealed in Torquil’s own triumph.
“There is healing, and you learn to live with the memories, but I don’t know if I’ll ever completely get past it,” author Aquila Dhu admits. “We must forgive the persons who hurt us, then forgive God for allowing it to happen, then reaffirm that forgiveness over and over again as necessary, until faith and trust in God’s perfect plan become part of ourselves.”
From her home on the western slopes of Colorado, author Aquila Dhu has intertwined her varied life experiences and knowledge of the wilderness and farming, along with her love for and extensive research into history, into the details of the story. In Wrath Remember Mercy is her first book.
In Wrath Remember Mercy: The Redemption of Torquil Dhu (ISBN-10 : 978-1-950892-79-2, $14.99) releases today from Carpenter’s Son Publishing. It is available from selected bookstores and online retailers. For more information, visit http://inwrathremembermercy.com.
MORE ABOUT THE STORY:
Young Confederate soldier Torquil Drummond has a pure heart for God until a Yankee officer murders his family. His world is blown to pieces; he is traumatized; his rationality is overset. Berserk for vengeance, he’s driven by his “daemon” toward spiritual and bodily destruction. He repents of vengeance and hatred and tries to walk righteously upon an earth that teeters under him, because he feels God has forsaken him and justice is dead. It is more a sacrifice for him to live than to die.
Man versus himself, man versus God, and man versus principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places, are Torquil’s battles to regain his original character and Christian faith. Through war and suffering, repentance, and striving but failing to overcome the “daemon,” he finds that only God can truly heal and redeem. Torquil’s redemption is told in three love stories: man and God, father and son, and man and woman.
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For a review copy or to interview Aquila Dhu, contact Joni Sullivan Baker, Buoyancy PR, at 513/319-3231 or jbaker@buoyancypr.com.