BOUND BY BLOOD

About the Book

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.

About the Author

Robert C. Novarro taught middle school history for 29 years and won the Distinguished Educators Award in 2000. He is the author of Scarred and lives in Bayside, Queens with his wife Angela.