by Clay Cane
First published 2026
Luke can read and write, skills that mark him as dangerous on Magnolia Row plantation in Civil War Virginia. He meets Henri, whose defiant spirit matches his own determination to escape the brutality surrounding them. Their friendship becomes the foundation for something larger. Josephine, a sharp young girl, watches and listens from the shadows, using silence as her weapon while vowing that their struggles will be remembered. Charity Butler has won her freedom but now fights against the system that once enslaved her. Nathaniel presents a disturbing contradiction as a Black man who owns slaves himself, his precarious position threatening the established order. As these lives intersect during America's bloodiest conflict, their individual acts of resistance build toward something that will reshape their world. The bonds between Luke, Henri, and the others transform personal survival into collective rebellion, proving that even in bondage, the human spirit refuses to break.
Genres: american-civil-war, american-fiction, 19th-century, african-american-historical-fiction
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, resistance
Setting: Magnolia Row, Virginia
Period: Civil War
288 pages · Hardcover · Dafina
Content warnings: slavery, violence