Bound by Blood

Maj. Ambrose Rawling, the master of Rosemont Plantation in South Carolina, might be the last person one would expect to fall in love with and marry Sybilla, a gypsy girl.

But he's not the only one bewitched by her charms; Matthew Sedwick, the overseer of the slaves at Rosemont, pursues the mistress of the plantation, and their love affair results in a family curse that will last generations.

Through the generations, the Rawlings-some of them with good intentions and selfish motives-chase their dreams. Family members include: Monroe Rawling, the son of a slave girl who passes himself off as white and who will do anything to keep his background a secret; Madeline Rawling, who struggles to help the family survive at home while a war rages outside; and Theodore Rawling, whose eagerness to fight with the Confederates leaves him a broken man.

Follow the Rawlings in Bound by Blood as they try to undo the sins of the past in a family saga that begins in the years after the American Revolution and spans beyond World War II.