This is a historical/romantic, novel (one can't really call it a romance novel, thought there is plenty of thwarted love), set in post-Civil War Louisiana. The former great plantation owners, the Delacroix family, are forced to leave their home when it's purchased for taxes by the Northerners, Ian and Eliza McKinley, whose son Ransome falls in love with the older Delacroix daughter, Jessamine. There's also a "sub-" love story in the developing romance between Jerome Delacroix and Doll Farmer, the daughter of former slaves. The story fans out over three generations and about thirty years. This is a not super-duper, crisply written novel but it was an involving read, and I cared about the characters; I wanted to see what would happen to them. The author impressed me with her storytelling ability and the strength of the characters, so it's definitely a solid three-or-a-bit-more-stars.

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