Westland

From bestselling author Michelle Muriel comes the sequel to the #1 bestseller Essie's Roses, set during the Reconstruction Era post Civil War, Westland is a moving, gripping historical novel about family secrets, forgiveness, and the meaning of home. Evil men wait a lifetime to get even. On an Alabama plantation before the Civil War, two little girls find freedom, Evie the planter's daughter and Essie Mae, a slave. Now, women, divided by the aftermath of war they must find their way back home. Alabama, 1866. The Civil War's aftermath tests family bonds as the women at Westland: Miss Katie, kind mistress and heiress, Evie, her daughter, Essie Mae, an intelligent freed slave, and Delly a former slave and Westland's sassy matriarch, confront the mysteries and secrets of Westland's past to hold on to freedom and each other. As Rebel fires and lawlessness rage in the South, Evie and Essie Mae return to the home of their troubled pasts: Westland, an unproductive plantation. With a new vision, renewed hope, and the tranquility of Miss Katie's secret garden, they learn to dream again, but a mysterious stranger from Westland's past threatens to tear them apart. Delly warns unearthing family secrets may do it for them. When Evie's stepfather James receives letters threatening Westland and Essie, he will move heaven and earth to keep Evie and Essie safe with a surprising twist he prays will usher in the true freedom they all deserve. Westland is an unforgettable, moving novel about the power of forgiveness, the families we create, and the consequences of the secrets we leave behind. One woman will pay the ultimate sacrifice as the women at Westland learn: freedom isn't free.