Freedom to Love

Freedom to Love By Susanna Fraser Louisiana, 1815 Thérèse Bondurant trusted
her parents to provide for her and her young half-sister, though they never wed due to
laws against mixed-race marriage. But when both die of a fever, Thérèse learns her only
inheritance is debt—and her father’s promise that somewhere on his plantation lies a
buried treasure. To save her own life—as well as that of her sister—she’ll need to find
it before her white cousins take possession of the land. British officer Henry Farlow,
dazed from a wound received in battle outside New Orleans, stumbles onto Thérèse’s
property out of necessity. But he stays because he’s become captivated by her
intelligence and beauty. It’s thanks to Thérèse’s tender care that he regains his
strength just in time to fend off her cousin, inadvertently killing the would-be rapist
in the process. Though he risks being labeled a deserter, it’s much more than a sense of
duty that compels Henry to see the sisters to safety—far away from the scene of the
crime. And Thérèse realizes she has come to rely on Henry for so much more than
protection. On their journey to freedom in England, they must navigate a territory
that’s just as foreign to them both—love. 98,000 words