The towns and other settings are all authentic, representing Beatty's careful study of the history of 1864 and 1865.

Roswell, Georgia was and is a real place, and many of the locations in the novel survive today, although some of the destroyed towns were never rebuilt. Beatty portrays Roswell as a peaceful town that, like most other Southern towns by 1864, is feeling the effects of the Civil War. Hannalee's father died of disease while serving in the Confederate Army. Her older brother Davey serves in the infantry stationed in Virginia. Food is scarce, although no one seems to be starving.

Hannalee and the other mill workers are proud of their contribution to the Southern cause; they make cloth for uniforms. Their town is dependent on the mill for employment, so when it is burned down, Roswell's economy is ruined. Most of the rest of the town is burned down as...