As fictional characters go, few embody such striking contradictions as cardsharp Elias Abrams: Jewish by birth, he joins the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Indeed, the question of duality runs
For Elias, the brutality of life at the front is soon eased in the form of a morale-boosting letter blindly sent by young Nora Bloom, a proud devotee to the Cause, at her rabbi's behest. Although the
In the summer of 1853, in Lafayette City, Louisiana, 11-year-old Elias Abrams loses his mother to yellow fever. Grief-stricken and alone, he becomes embroiled in the street life of New Orleans. After
