Price (Beauty from Ashes, LJ 1/95), the grande dame of Southern romantic fiction, died shortly after completing this work. In her final novel, she tells the story of Abbie Allyn, a Boston socialite who marries an older man and moves to a small coastal Georgia town where her husband has purchased a rice plantation. When Abbie's husband, Eli, dies during a trip to purchase contraband slaves, she suddenly finds herself the owner of 100 slaves and a plantation whose workings she doesn't understand. Aided by Thad Greene, her handsome young overseer, Abbie learns rice culture and develops both a feminist and abolitionist conscience; predictably, she finds love as well. Fans of Price's previous novels will find all the hallmarks of her fiction here: considerable historical research, historical figures walking the streets, and a story imbued with inspirational Christian values.
