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Also by Ann Nolder Heintz:

Last Stop Freedom, September 2011
e-Book

LAST STOP FREEDOM
By: Ann Nolder Heintz

Write Words, Inc
September 2011
On Sale: September 1, 2011
ISBN: 1594319251
EAN: 9781594319259
Kindle: B005LDJKGQ
e-Book
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Historical | Fiction

The Underground Railroad is an enduring symbol of the human spirit’s rebellion against the institution of slavery. The concurrent cause of women’s rights inspired and strengthened this noble movement. LAST STOP FREEDOM draws on both to tell the story of two women, one white, the other black, who are trapped in bondage by the culture and circumstances of those turbulent times.

Julia Bigsby is the repressed daughter of a widowed parson in 1850's Troy, New York. Desperate to escape her dreary life, she agrees to marry Nathaniel Hamilton, who owns a cotton plantation in South Carolina. She soon comes to regret her decision. Her husband is autocratic and unyielding, her new family rejects her, and the South’s brutal system of slavery violates every principle she holds dear. Her attempts at rebellion meet with ever stricter measures until her marriage becomes a prison worse than the one imposed by her father. One constant keeps her sane: her warm affection for her maid Fanny, a slave girl whose intellect and stoic wisdom have inspired Julia’s respect and admiration.

Fanny has come to her new mistress from a life fraught with secrecy and insecurity. She is awed to discover that Julia treats her as an equal and friend. This blessing is compounded when she meets the estate’s blacksmith, the gentle giant Jacob. They fall in love and marry, but Nathaniel’s unbridled lust for Fanny threatens whatever contentment they are able to find. Family chaos ensues, prompting Nathaniel’s decision to sell Fanny away. Her only hope of remaining with Jacob is for them to escape before their master can act.

An agent of the Underground Railroad offers to spirit the two slaves north to Canada and freedom. Life without Fanny is too bleak for Julia to contemplate, and she decides to flee with them. Thus begins a harrowing journey that tests the fugitives’ ingenuity and resolve and brings Julia a second chance at love and happiness.