The book began when Marly Youmans' son, Ben, became transfixed by military history and, in particular, the Civil War.

"We started going to battlegrounds, re-enactments, and reading books and books," said Youmans. "My initial interest stemmed from that."

Her book, "The Wolf Pit," was picked up by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. It will be released on Sept. 1. Youmans said the plot is a "double helix," two intertwined strands that describe the lives of a pair of main characters, a mulatto slave girl named Agate and a Confederate soldier, Robin.

"The two never meet," said Youmans, "but they are aware of the other's existence and there is a connection through Agate's mother. They wrap around one another but they never touch."

Youmans and husband, neurosurgeon Mike Miller, have three children. She daydreams while she does housework and plays with the kids, she said, and wrote the book from the time they went to bed at night, sometimes until four in the morning. The result is a twenty-four chapter, 342 page book.

"I would get up with them at seven to get them ready for school," Youmans said. "I didn't go back to sleep. That may be why I seem out of it a lot. Jittery."

The book has been graced with glowing reviews. A reviewer from The New York Times said, "Youmans' language is trenchant, graceful and, in places, sumptuously archaic, filled with a richness that provides more than just period color. A subtle, intelligent novel."

Curtis Wilke, author of the upcoming Scribner book "Dixie," said, "The Wolf Pit is a fever dream of a book, a lamentation by a mutilated slave girl and a star-crossed confederate soldier. Marly Youmans' lyrical touch puts her in the first rank of contemporary American novelists."

"I honestly don't think of myself as working as logically as other people. I'm looking to give pleasure to the reader, but I'm also looking to transcend myself through character. You lose yourself, but in so doing, you become yourself more," said Youmans. "It's instinctive rather than logical."

Youmans has published two other books, "Little Jordan" in 1995 and "Catherwood" in 1996. She has also written a book for children called "The Curse of the Raven Mocker," though she predicts a 2003 publication date due to trends in that market. Her daughter, Rebecca, 9, read the book piecemeal as it was being written.

"Mommy," Rebecca said while her mother was being interviewed, "I want to know when I'll be old enough to read Little Jordan and the other two books."

"Not yet," Youmans said. "We'll see when."