In 2009 the diary of Civil War Marine Charley Brother was discovered in a basement, sparking Christine Friesel to spend a decade trying to read this man, who was her great-great grandfather.

FICTION

Friesel published the novel The Orphan Girls of Bath, inspired by fragments known about her ancestors.

She writes short catholic fiction for the YouTube Channel, Short Catholic.

NONFICTION

The Boys of Bath is a factual account of Civil War Marine and railroad postal clerk Charles Brother, based on his diary, published in 2021.

Learn about more of the men who served alongside Charles Brother, at war and at home.

The same year Friesel edited Moving Back, the writings of her great grandmother Frances Toyne, who, late in life, converted to Catholicism.

Check out the video series, created in 2026, called Reading Charley Brother.