Bøger af Robert F. Lackey

Sonja is haunted by nightmares of her past deeds coming to light, and driven to make amends with the dead. Ben stubbornly holds to his course, refusing to admit his needs or recognize powers beyond his own hands. Together they face a profound loss within the family while struggling to stay alive in the grips of the greatest flood ever to strike Havre de Grace.

Ben and Sonja Pulaski return to South Carolina, in spite of death threats from Jeremiah Williamson, owner of Palmetto Haven plantation. Jeremiah hosts his niece, Lydia Binterfield, cast out from Havre de Grace by her half brother. Lydia is determined to gain control of her new home, joining Jeremiah in his hatred for the Pulaskis. Sonja discovers an ending to the nightmare gnawing at her soul. Working with the mysterious Argyle Corporation, Ben must continue to ship rice and lumber from Georgetown into the Chesapeake Bay, and find a way to defuse Williamson's anger, while keeping his real purpose secret.The soft beauty and tropical climate of the South Carolina low country was a perfect location for rice cultivation in a world calling it Carolina Gold. In 1844, new millionaires were arising monthly and building extravagant mansions on rice plantations in the river marshes near Georgetown. Eighteen thousand slaves labored in swamps of sweltering heat, risking yellow fever, planting and harvesting millions of rice plants with only hands and hoes. Ben and Sonja move through the centers of slavery under Ben's guise as a buyer, while secretly smuggling slaves north.

Havre de Grace, 1843. Ben and Sonja Pulaski strengthen their bonds after overcoming bloody intentions and conniving efforts, and gain ownership of the schooner Raven. With their younger son Aaron left as captain of the sailing barge Ugly Boat and their older son Isaac accepted to West Point, their Maryland roots range deep into both slave and free states. Still struggling to meet the needs of a family without powerful friends, but driven by powerful beliefs, the Pulaskis accept surprising obligations that will take them deeper into slave smuggling. Sonja grows stronger as a partner to Ben, far beyond the social expectations of the 19th century. Ben struggles to contain the demons that haunt his anger and push him toward violence. They are pushed and pulled by the banks and political forces. Once again, the Pulaskis step into a broader world, taking them farther from the simple life on the Canal, and ever forward into the growing maelstrom of a nation straining within itself.

Ben and Sonja Pulaski struggle to rekindle their fragile relationship and rebuild their lives along the canal that flows from free state to slave state, in a young country struggling to find the proper course. The Pulaskis are targeted by a violent man Ben thought left for dead, and a conniving banker Sonja humiliated in desperation, who join together in a dark business venture, and devise a plan to destroy the Pulaskis. Ben and Sonja find themselves in the center of a deadly storm fed by greed, slavery, and revenge, releasing the monster held deep within Ben, and pouring blood on the Chesapeake.