More than being an employee, Beulah is a trusted friend, part of the family.įenton, Missouri, the backdrop of the novel, struggles with violence, prejudice and rebuilding after the Civil War.
She is also a teacher, who elevates Belle Richards from her illiteracy and her abusive impoverished family. His cousins own a boarding house and employ Beulah, a free Black manager, a bright, educated former slave. Reed is confronted with the historical reality of his era. So begins the historical romance written by Holly Bush. Holly told me, “He knew the South could not support slavery forever, he knew his father was a cruel man, he knew that good people existed (his mother), he fought in a war he did not support but was expected of him, and he knew that the law must be followed blindly to begin our crawl out of our national conflicts.” His plantation and financé have been given to his younger brother and Reed is sent to the Aimes cousins in Missouri. One leg amputated during the war, the other said to be too weak to use, Reed is in a wheel chair, angry, hopeless and uncertain about his future. Throughout the US, the former slaves are free yet most remain fearful, unable to exercise the freedoms they have been given.Įnter Reed Jackson, lawyer, handsome and defeated Confederate officer. The Confederates have lost and the South is bitter, much in ruins.
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