Upon the Robin's Breast covers a four year span 1875-1879. The historical backdrop is the election of Wade hampton to the governorship of South Carolina. It was a tumultuous time in the state's history. Another war was nearly fought over this election. The central characters are Bravard Middleton, scion of an old Charleston family and Civil War veteran. He falls in love with Ernestine Coleman, a belle of breeding and a girl of his class. She's more than twenty years his junior. One obstacle remains; he's a married man, unable to loose himself from a good and faithful wife. A secondary plot involves Pearl MacLean, Bravard's long time mistress and confidant. After tiring of her, he pawns her off on a young unsuspecting Union soldier, who marries her. He relocates Pearl to New York to begin life as a respectable farmer's wife. The story begins in Charleston, moves up to Columbia, and in time back to the lowcountry, culminating in an outbreak of yellow fever. Eventually an improbable love is realized.
