Tom Dooley: An American Tragedy
In post-Civil war North Carolina, a love triangle and a murder end in the hanging of Tom Dula. The legend of Tom Dooley is born and spread worldwide with the 1958 Kingston Trio ballad, “Tom Dooley.” Brooks has written his fictionalized version of this legend.
Tom Dooley, a Confederate soldier, returns from war to find the woman he loves, Ann, married to someone else. This doesn’t stop the two from picking up the relationship where they left off. Pauline, Ann’s cousin, also becomes his lover. Then Tom falls in love with Laura, another of Ann’s cousins. He tries to break off with Ann and Pauline because now Laura is his one true love. He makes plans with Laura to meet secretly and elope. That night while Laura awaits Tom, she is murdered. Tom and Ann are both arrested for the murder. Behind bars, Tom falls in love again with a village girl, Elizabeth. The story is told by her through letters and interviews with Tom and his acquaintances.
There is some good writing by Brooks, with many poetic passages, but the basic story line has been expanded with too many sex scenes between Tom and each of the three cousins, which become tiresome. Over time, facts and legend intertwine and change, which leaves each fictional account different, but Karen Wheeling Reynolds’ Tom Dooley: The Story Behind the Ballad and Sharyn McCrumb’s The Ballad of Tom Dooley are more imaginative and appealing novels.
