Continuing the saga of the New York Times bestselling Savannah and To See Your Face Again, Eugenia Price, one of the world’s most beloved storytellers, weaves a gloriously moving tale of the Old South—of destinies bound by the rumblings of war—and passion freed by the power of love.   Georgia, 1842. In this grand and passionate era of American history, forged by the dreams of extraordinary men and women, the McKay, Browning, and Stiles families find themselves experiencing love, hardship, and pain in the great Southern city of Savannah. The willful Natalie Browning Latimer’s newfound marital bliss has been threatened by a shattering loss, while the ambitious W. H. Stiles becomes wrapped up in a daring political trail that leads his family into the turmoil of Western Europe. Natalie’s brother Jonathan Browning shocks the family by dropping out of Yale to be with the one woman who could never be welcomed into Savannah society. As the families struggle to maintain their deep love for one another, the South struggles to justify its connection to the Union and moves toward succession. “Romantic . . . entertaining . . . superb!” —The New York Times “Eugenia Price is a name spoken with affection by millions of readers.” —Publishers Weekly “Newcomers to Ms. Price's work should soon join her legions of faithful readers.” —Chattanooga Times “An engrossing novel of antebellum America . . . richly detailed . . . unforgettable!” —Rave Reviews “A charming and engaging picture of life in the South.” —Atlanta Journal Constitution “Colorful . . . appealing . . . exquisitely detailed.” —Anniston Star Before making St. Simons Island her home, Eugenia Price, a native of Charleston, West Virginia, was a resident of Chicago with a highly successful career in the thriving area of radio soap-opera programming. The major networks eagerly sought her creative production talents and Price was well respected in the broadcasting world when her life took a marvelous and powerful turn. God began to use her extraordinary writing gifts to communicate her faith with others. Price’s earliest books— Discoveries, The Burden Is Light, and Early Will I  Seek Thee —gained her enormous popularity as a speaker at religious groups across the nation and across all denominational lines. Her compelling message was not about doctrine, but about new birth. In rapid succession, she wrote books dealing with Christian living, women’s faith perspectives, and devotional themes. Her masterful rephrasing of the entire Bible, Beloved  World, went through countless printings. Twenty-six highly personal nonfiction works and fourteen historical novels were ultimately released by the leading publishers of the day. Eugenia Price died on May 28, 1996, and is buried at her beloved Christ Churchyard, Frederica, St. Simons Island. Following her death, the Eugenia Price/Joyce Blackburn Charitable Foundation was established with Blackburn, also a prolific writer, as president. The Foundation holds all publishing rights in perpetuity. Its sustaining purpose is to ensure the availability of this written legacy for future generations of readers. Branches barely clouded with late April green, the sour- wood, beech, maple and oak trees across her upcountry valley seemed to Natalie to be arranging the lavender morning around their trunks as though they had fingers and could lift mist and drape it to their liking. Natalie’s own body, slender and lithe the first time she stood in this enchanted spot behind her cabin home Nearly three years ago, today leaned heavily against the old pignut hickory which stood guard over her iron soap kettle. She’d managed late yesterday to finish making the soap, in spite of a strange, dizzying weakness; in spite of the added weight within her, the oddly quiet, still weight of the child she would give to Burke in a little over six weeks. Today, she meant to fill and store her cleaned, dried gourds with the lovely soap—gourds she’d proudly grown herself from seed. She loved living in this exact spot in the Georgia upcountry, beside the winding Etowah River. There was new life within her and her own life became new each time the sun rose from behind the nearest mountain. Every single thing she’d done in the years before she began to love Burke Latimer now seemed frivolous and without meaning. How had she endured the boredom of her girlhood years without hard work to do? One of her happiest memories from last fall was the evening spent with Buike scraping and cleaning the green- and-yellow-striped gourds. How they’d laughed and how proud he was of those gourds. He’d be proud of the new soap too. She could count on that. “Burke,” she breathed, and felt comforted by speaking his name into the early-morning chill of their own backyard. Burke, her heart cried, you should be close by me now... but it’s all right that you’re not here. I always mean it when I tell you that. Day after tomorrow you will be here and Indian Mary w