Howard Frank Mosher discusses his new book Walking to Gatlinburg: A Novel on Tuesday, March 30, at 6:30 p.m. at the Plaza Branch, 4801 Main St.

The story begins with 17-year-old Morgan Kinneson helping a black slave, Jesse, escape to Canada during the American Civil War. When Morgan is drawn away by the chance to kill a moose that would feed his family for months, he returns to find that Jesse has been murdered.

Guilt-ridden and desperate to reunite with his family, Morgan travels south, looking for his older brother Pilgrim, who is missing from the Union Army.

When Morgan discovers that Jesse’s killers are on his tail, and that he unknowingly possesses something of dear value, his trek to Gatlinburg becomes a journey of intense survival. Along the way he visits the battlefield at Gettysburg, is wounded during a mountain feud and meets an escaped slave who turns out to be Jesse’s granddaughter.

Copies of Walking to Gatlinburg will be available for sale and the author will sign copies purchased during the event.