About the Book

Lavinia Williamson, born into an abolitionist family in the mountains of Virginia, falls in love with a handsome plantation owner from eastern Virginia, marries him, and becomes the lady of the manor. Viewing the social injustice of human bondage on their plantation, she becomes a friend to the family’s slaves.

After the death of her own daughter, she is especially taken with one of her husband’s daughters by a beautiful slave. Lavinia is torn between the love/hate relationship she has with her philandering husband, the responsibilities of running a tobacco plantation worked by the slaves she begins to love as her own people, and the question of human rights. What can one woman do to change the world around her?

Lavinia’s involvement with the Underground Railroad that secretly operates through Virginia gives her life meaning, but it also creates fear, secrecy, hope, failure, triumph, and the conviction that she is in the right.

About the Author

Charles Roberts grew up in the mountains of Virginia. He attended several universities in Virginia as well as New York University. He was a professor for twenty five years at a college in New England. “During this tenure, I became astutely aware of the still-existent social pressures caused by racial prejudice. Having been raised in the South, I was very conscious of the differences in the lives of American blacks and whites. I am totally devoted to the acknowledgement of human dignity by all societies and hope the true facts behind the story of Lavinia’s trail of tribulation can spark respect for others in many of my fellow men.”