In 1925, on Prytania Street in New Orleans, an old man sets about recording his memories of the days when he was a young man working in St. Matthew Parish, Louisiana. Poor health has taken his ability to speak, and there are people in his house whom he doesn't recognize, including "the woman downstairs who is not the hired girl" and "the Spaniard." But his memory of sixty years before is still sharp, and he can still write, and as he does, it becomes clear that this is more than a recollection of happy times. It is the confession of a youth filled with atrocities. Living Among the Dead is a story of betrayal, regret, and the thirst for forgiveness, set in the wake of the Civil War.