"Jenny is Free" -- Book Two of the "Spinning Jenny" series. "There's runaways all over the place in Cincinnati,and there's slave-catchers all over the place there, too. They'd come right in on a pretty young thing like you. And there's a slave-catcher right here on this boat..."Natchez 1841. Jenny has always yearned for freedom. But when her master Cornelius Carson abruptly sets her free and hands her a steamboat ticket to Cincinnati, free soil, she is completely alone. She is leaving behind everything and everyone she knows. At seventeen, what future awaits her? Then she hears a familiar voice among the passengers on the steamer: "Hey Jenny.""Walker?"An old acquaintance, Walker Jackson persuades her to return with him to Carefree, the abandoned Natchez estate of her childhood. Only one person still lives there: Esther, a slave woman. Not long after newlywed Cornelius unexpectedly inherits Carefree, Jenny's budding romance with a Creole, Adrien Jean-Pierre, is at a crossroads; but she ignores her misgivings and follows him to New Orleans, where she fashions a new life for herself among the free people there. But ultimately she realizes that Carefree is her destiny. Part coming-of-age novel, part mystery, with romance and a hint of ghosts, "Jenny is Free" follows Jenny and the people of her world as they pursue their dreams in the midst of a slave-holding society.

Jenny is Free: A Novel (Spinning Jenny)

Literature & Fiction

McLain, Sylvia Ann

United States

Independently published

"I guess I'll name you Jenny, something I can say easy. That was my mammy's name anyway. Jenny. You be Jenny from now on..." Cornelius Carson's mother cautioned him never to own slaves, but in 1830s Louisiana, land and slaves are the measure of a man's worth. At 23, Cornelius is ambitious, and in love. He owns one elderly slave, Malachi, and a small cotton farm along the Bayou Cocodrie in Louisiana. And he plans to marry Stephanie Coqterre, daughter of a wealthy Natchez planter. He needs another field-hand, but prices are high. So when a trader brings a coffle of smuggled slaves to Natchez, Cornelius buys a 10-year-old girl. She is mute and nameless, but she's all he can afford. He names her Jenny. It quickly becomes apparent that Jenny will change life on the Cocodrie as much as it changes her. The winds of ambition are blowing everywhere, both among the whites, who strive for wealth and status, and among the slaves, who yearn for freedom. But dangers are everywhere, too. As madness and treachery reach from Natchez to the Cocodrie to blast all their dreams, Cornelius struggles to find a way to salvage his life and the lives of Jenny and Malachi as well.

Spinning Jenny: A Novel

Genre Fiction

CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform

Novel about a Natchez planter in the 1840s. The novels covers the activities of the planter and his family and freed slaves.

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Miller

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