Description

No one could dispute that Claudia was the grand-daughter of the late Colonel Hartley, who depended on a crew of black slaves to carve a plantation out of the wilderness near the Mississippi River banks. Following his death in 1839, his will clearly stated that Claudia had the right to live at Bella Terra as she desired, even though her mother had disgraced the family by marrying beneath her station. Claudia had been raised in relative poverty, was now orphaned and was recently forced to live with her stepmother in slave-like conditions. She welcomed the news that she was to move to Bella Terra.

Upon her arrival, conflict was immediately apparent. The elderly Alfreda Arlen had little desire to respect the will, and she all but ran the plantation. She was deeply concerned about her social position, and Claudia was bound to be trouble.  Her husband Conrad was kind-hearted but allowed his wife to dominate himself and others. Their son Nickolas was rapidly approaching his twenty-fourth birthday, when he would take full control of the plantation, his inheritance.

Entering this environment, beautiful seventeen year-old Claudia was rebellious, and had little use for society. In fact, she soon found herself strongly attracted to Enos, a handsome mulatto slave. Nickolas, aware of her feelings towards Enos, developed a strong jealousy and resentment of this relationship. He also had a strong sense of right-and-wrong, but he was not quite ready to defy his strong-willed mother. When Claudia realized that she was pregnant, she saw a safe marriage as her only possible solution. The family was destined to be tested by feelings of hurt and betrayal, and plantation sensibilities seemed to offer them few choices.