Lottie Deno: A Novel of the Civil War and the American Southwest

Thurmond’s novel follows a girl becoming a woman in pre-Civil War Kentucky, through a romantic involvement in Detroit, and then into adulthood as she becomes the notorious gambler, Lottie Deno, in postwar New Orleans, San Antonio, and points Southwest. Her business acumen and fearlessness bring opportunities. Her love life takes several turns, and her character matures in often colorful, surprising ways.

A native of Little Rock, Arkansas, Frank Thurmond (a distant cousin of William Faulkner) earned English degrees at the University of Mississippi and Oxford University (UK). He teaches English at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock and, in the evenings, serenades his rescue dogs with wind instruments.