Walker's Island - K. J. Radebaugh

Young Raymond Pennell and his best friend Dolly Baxter have little use for their fellow cow hunter Vancey Adams. Even so, they have his back when they're conscripted with him into a Confederate Home Guard unit. Hungry, bored, and terrified, Raymond and Dolly trudge the length of Florida's Union-occupied Gulf Coast. All along the way, through death and dark nights, they cling to the story of a wilderness paradise called Walker's Island.

Then early one morning, on the brink of heading home, they watch from hiding as Vancey escapes on a stolen horse, abandoning his comrades to slaughter. Dazed with grief, the boys are clear on two things: Vancey will go to ground on Walker's Island, and he'll be surprised when they show up.

Evoking the lush landscapes of Patrick Smith's A Land Remembered and the raw violence of Peter Matthiessen's Killing Mr. Watson, Walker's Island follows Raymond and Dolly from boys settling a score to men haunted by blood debts clamoring from the grave to be paid.