Carolina Gamble

Samuel Elwyn Biggs has fled the life-sucking poverty into which he was born - the hard hammering fist of his drunkard of a father, and his religion-besotted mother. And now he must learn to survive on his own. The gaming halls of Petersburg beckon him. He finds he has a talent with games of chance. From a consumptive and dying old man who cares little for the things he spent a lifetime accruing, Sam wins undeveloped property in the piedmont of North Carolina. He leaves Petersburg behind and enters a world of conflict and encounters a mystery woman named Rose. Sam and Rose wish to marry, but Rose continually delays the wedding. There are secrets that Sam must be told - secrets that can ruin lives. Only Rose can tell Sam of her past. Wrongs must be righted - and there are people who must die for the evil they have become.