The Planter's Daughter

By Michelle Shocklee

Description:

Adella Rose Ellis knows her father has plans for her future, but she longs for the freedom to forge her own destiny. When the son of Luther Ellis's longtime friend arrives on the plantation to work as the new overseer, Adella can't help but fall for his charm and captivating hazel eyes. But a surprise betrothal to an older man, followed by a devastating revelation, forces Adella to choose the path that will either save her family's future or endanger the lives of the people most dear to her heart. Seth Brantley never wanted to be an overseer. After a runaway slave shot him, ending his career as a Texas Ranger and leaving him with a painful limp, a job on the plantation owned by his father's friend is just what he needs to bide his time before heading to Oregon where a man can start over. What he hadn't bargained on was falling in love with the planter's daughter or finding that everything he once believed about Negroes wasn't true. Amid secrets unraveling and the hatching of a dangerous plan, Seth must become the very thing he'd spent the past four years chasing down: an outlaw.

Book Takeaway:

When a reader reaches the end of the book, I hope they feel a great deal of satisfaction in the romance and the path each character chose to take. But I also hope I've made readers think about slavery and the many freedoms we are blessed with.

Why the author wrote this book:

I love a great romance novel! I also love history. Combining those two resulted in The Planter's Daughter. I chose antebellum Texas as the setting after I read UNCLE TOM'S CABIN by Harriet Beecher Stowe for the first time. It deeply moved me, in the same manner it moved people back when it was first published in 1852. I still remember how heartbroken I felt reading about the treatment of Tom and the other slaves. When I finished it, I knew I wanted to write a book that involved slavery, because the slaves and what they endured should never be forgotten. I wanted the heroine to represent the many white people who did not condone slavery yet were helpless to prevent it from happening.