Play for a Kingdom

Starred review from July 31, 1997
In the blood-soaked woods of the Wilderness in Virginia in 1864, two small groups of Civil War soldiers engage in a game of death and honor. A Yankee infantry company, the Brooklyn 14th, on picket duty in the woods, takes a break from the horrors of war by playing a new game--baseball. Suddenly, a group of Confederate soldiers from Alabama appear, also seeking respite from the desperate battle. Warily, the soldiers challenge each other to a baseball game, Rebs versus Yanks. Such fraternization with the enemy is a court-martial offense and both groups know it; but, in their need to find respite from the mad slaughter, they lay down their rifles and pick up the bat and ball. Afterwards, they agree to rendezvous again for another game and, if possible, maybe a five-game series. Between these contests, they meet in battle in the Wilderness and again at Spotsylvania Court House. But the soldiers don't know that these chance meetings and secret baseball games are no coincidence. Lt. Burridge, the Union officer, has contrived the encounters to meet with a spy among the rebels. The baseball games give Burridge and the spy a chance to exchange information, but eventually the Yank and Reb soldiers begin to suspect betrayal and deceit. As first-novelist Dyja deftly captures many of the ironies of war (there are bigots in Brooklyn and abolitionists in Alabama), the novel's theme strikes home with a restrained eloquence.

April 1, 1997
A first novel by someone who knows the business--Dyja was a literary agent and book editor before becoming a book packager in New York--this work features a series of baseball games between troops on opposing sides of the Civil War, who seek diversion even as the bloody battle of Spotsylvania is unfolding. The publisher is really pitching this one, reading copies and all.

August 1, 1997
Dyja has crafted a uniquely compelling Civil War novel set amid the chaos and devastation that characterized the savage battle of Spotsylvania in 1864. Days away from the termination of their three-year enlistment, the physically debilitated and emotionally fatigued members of the 14th Brooklyn apprehensively await their final orders. Plagued by guilt, uncertainty, and terror, the shattered remnants of the once-proud company of soldiers bicker among themselves and wrestle with the inner demons threatening to destroy them before the enemy does. Happening upon a clearing in the thick of the war-ravaged wilderness, they organize a game of baseball, attempting to relieve the tension and restore a semblance of normalcy to a world spinning out of control. Surprised by a similarly jaded unit of Confederates, they warily challenge the Rebels to a friendly contest. Continuing between bloody skirmishes and ensuing over the course of the next several days, the interim games begin to assume increased importance, representing a last desperate opportunity for redemption. An absolutely stunning narrative. ((Reviewed Aug. 1997))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1997, American Library Association.)