Sarafina
In April 1862, deep in the carnage of the Battle of Shiloh, the youngest Belle brother, Ethan, deserts the Confederate army alongside his older brothers Mason and Archie. Exhausted, wounded, and pursued, the three stumble on a remote homestead tucked beyond a strange creek, tended by a woman named Sarafina and her young son, Titus. Sarafina takes them in, but the fruit is out of season, the clothes fit too well, and the fertile land seems to answer to something older than any of them. As Ethan uncovers a hidden cavern beneath the homestead, the brothers realize their sanctuary may be a trap laid by something ancient and merciless.
The youngest of three Confederate brothers who desert at Shiloh; his growing unease about the homestead and its impossible hospitality drives the story, told partly from his point of view.
The mysterious, solitary woman who takes the wounded deserters into her isolated homestead, offering unnervingly perfect shelter and care.
One of Ethan's two older brothers, deserting the Confederate army with him after the Battle of Shiloh and sheltering at Sarafina's homestead.
The eldest of the three Belle brothers, deserting the Confederate army alongside Ethan and Mason and taking refuge at the homestead.
Ethan's twin sister waiting for him back home; her own chapters gradually reveal what is really happening at the homestead.