Bouchard's Widow

Lucie Perrault never expected to inherit a sugar plantation—or the thirty-seven enslaved souls who work it. A free woman of color in 1843 Louisiana, she faces a predatory white neighbor determined to seize her land, a legal system designed to strip her of every right, and a moral reckoning that no amount of good intention can resolve. Caught between complicity and compassion, Lucie must decide what she is willing to lose to do what is right—and whether freedom is truly hers to give.