The Women of Catawba Author:Hilda Stahl Taylor Craven is about to sail from England with her husband's cousin, James Rawlings. Widowed and in debt to him, she has no one else to turn to. But when Taylor accidentally overhears a plot to force her to marry him, she knows she must run away. — Setting out from Liverpool, Taylor escapes with her child and a runaway slave on a ship bound... more » for the Carolinas. During the voyage, her life becomes entwined with the lives of the other passengers: beautiful Maid, trapped in a life of servitude unless she can find a man to marry her; Andrew Simons, a smooth English gentleman with his own plans for Taylor; Yates Marston, a bitter widower; and his three children, Laurel, Kendra, and Reid. And then there's Cammie, the only one who really knows why Taylor had to run away.
Taylor is intrigued by stories of Catawba, the plantation in the South Carolina wilderness to which the Marstons are headed. She prays for a safe haven there, but will the master of Catawba welcome strangers? Or will Taylor's past catch up with her and destroy her dreams for a new life of freedom?« less
I did not enjoy this book. Though the story line was very good, I did not find most of the characters believable. It seemed that each character was either evil or perfect. Some of the characters swung wildly between good and evil.
The first of the series. Taylor escapes with her child from a cruel man. She leaves Liverpool to go to SOuth Carolina and meets the Marstons who save her. Kinda cool-sequel written bysister.
Great book. The last book written by the incredibly talented author Hilda Stahl before she died. The sequel to this book "The Winds of Catawba" was written by her daughter, Laurie Stahl.