One of a handful of lawyers in the new state of Oregon, recently widowed Matthew Penny agrees to help Worthy Brown, a newly freed slave, rescue his fifteen year old daughter, Roxanne, from their former master, a powerful Portland lawyer. Worthy's lawsuit sets in motion events that lead to Worthy's arrest for murder and create an agonizing moral dilemma that could send either Worthy or Matthew to the hangman.

"A former slave rises above the harsh realities of being owned and colonialism on Montserrat working hard to buy freedom for herself, her mother, and her sister and becoming an entrepreneur, merchant, hotelier, and planter. Based on the true life story of Dorothy Kirwan Thomas"-- Born into slavery on the tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat, Dorothy bought her freedom, and that of her sister and her mother, from her Irish planter father. Rising above...