Civil: True North

★ "...as thematically powerful...as such war-fiction classics as Jerzy Kosiński's novel The Painted Bird and Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In a nation fractured by war, the hardest thing to face isn't the enemy-it's the person you've become.

In a near-future America torn apart by a second civil war, Rachel Waterman-known as the Raven-is being hunted for murder. She survived the horrors of a military detainment facility called True North, escaping by killing the guard who brutalized her. Now, she has vanished into an off-grid sanctuary where a fragile community of survivors is trying to build something almost impossible: a life after everything they've done.

To U.S. Marine Captain Chet Miller, the Raven isn't a survivor. She is the monster who executed his best friend.

Tracking her across the scarred wilderness of the Pacific Northwest, Chet expects an easy, righteous hunt. But as he closes in, the lines between enemy and survivor blur. The woman he came to destroy carries a trauma that mirrors his own-and the man he believed he was may no longer exist.

CIVIL: True North is a haunting upmarket novel about the heavy cost of survival, the ghosts we carry, and the agonizing path toward healing when the world around us has fallen apart.

"The brutal feeling of authenticity... and the intricate plot are all exceptional elements, but it's the depth and beauty of Barker's writing that makes Rachel's and Chet's storylines so compelling." -Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Dark Bird Press
Published: 06/26/2026
ISBN: 9798995713821
Pages: 320
Weight: 1.28lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.88d