In her sweeping debut, Diane C. McPhail offers a powerful, profoundly
emotional novel that explores a little-known aspect of Civil War
history--Southern Abolitionists--and the timeless struggle to do right
even amidst bitter conflict.
On a Mississippi morning in 1859, Emily Matthews begs her father to save
a slave, Nathan, about to be auctioned away from his family. Judge
Matthews is an abolitionist who runs an illegal school for his slaves,
hoping to eventually set them free. One, a woman named Ginny, has become
Emily's companion and often her conscience--and understands all too well
the hazards an educated slave must face. Yet even Ginny could not
predict the tangled, tragic string of events set in motion as Nathan's
family arrives at the Matthews farm.
A young doctor, Charles Slate, tends to injured Nathan and begins to
court Emily, finally persuading her to become his wife. But their union
is disrupted by a fatal clash and a lie that will tear two families
apart. As Civil War erupts, Emily, Ginny, and Emily's stoic
mother-in-law, Adeline, each face devastating losses. Emily--sheltered
all her life--is especially unprepared for the hardships to come.
Struggling to survive in this raw, shifting new world, Emily will
discover untapped inner strength, an unlikely love, and the courage to
confront deep, painful truths.
**"McPhail's first novel sheds light on an often unrecognized part of
Civil War history . . . For fans of Charles Frazier's enduring Cold
Mountain."
**--Booklist
