In 1856 New York,a bashful abolitionist meets a young Army lieutenant and falls in love. He wants to take her to meet his parents in Savannah, GA, but she knows the South is no place for an abolitionist.
The Abolitionist's Secret is at its heart a romance. Yet America in the decade leading up to the Civil War was a battlefield that affected each person in the country in a different way. Some of the social battles are still being fought today. When writing about American history, one can't help but get involved in the social issues that shaped the country. This story tackles the difficult subject of slavery, freedom, and the people who helped.
Excerpt
New York, April 1856
The hair on the back of Heather Fitzpatrick’s neck rose. She glanced around the opulent restaurant, trying to find the cause of her discomfort. Her eyes locked with those of a military officer sitting with two other men at a table across the room. A bolt of electricity ricocheted between them. Heather could not move for a moment, or break the contact. She finally forced her eyes away from him and placed the menu in front of her face.
“Whatever is the matter, dear?” Her mother asked. “Don’t tell me you are coming down with the same stomach upset that Jasmine has.”
“No, Mother, it’s nothing. I feel fine.” She placed a hand on her stomach, willing it to stop fluttering about.
“Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick, how nice to see you again.” Thomas Downing, a free man of color and the owner of the restaurant, came to their table. “And young Miss Fitzpatrick.” He nodded in Heather’s direction.
Heather’s mother, Charlotte, glanced up from the menu. “Hello, Thomas. We’re here tonight to sample some of your exquisite oysters.”
“Why, thank you, Mrs. Fitzpatrick. That’s a mighty fine compliment, coming from you. Now, may I start you off with your usual appetizer?”
Heather’s father, George Fitzpatrick, answered, “I see no reason to break with tradition, Thomas.”
As Thomas departed to see to their appetizers, Heather said, “I love coming here. You know, my friend Mary Rose told me her family would not dream of coming to any restaurant owned by a Negro, regardless of the quality of the food.”
“Fortunately, we’re a bit more enlightened than that,” her father replied quietly. “We’ve known Thomas, and his son George, for a long time now, and we know the good they do for the cause. If, by us patronizing their restaurant, it enables them to help one more person, we are happy to come here.”
Charlotte turned her attention to Heather and George. “It’s so nice to have this quiet evening before we begin the season in earnest. Shall we toast to a successful Cotillion?” She raised her champagne flute.
George clinked his glass to hers, and added, “Here’s hoping we can marry off both of our twins without any touch of scandal coming our way this year.”
Heather giggled. “Oh, Papa. Neither Jasmine nor I are anything thing like Ginger. We won’t give you any cause for concern.”
Charlotte’s glass banged lightly against Heather’s. “Well it’s true you two have been looking for a husband since you were born, so I don’t think our ultimate goal of finding suitable mates for you will be a problem.” Charlotte’s laughter joined Heather’s as they sipped their champagne.
“Excuse me, but aren’t you Mr. and Mrs. Fitzpatrick?” A deep voice broke into the festivities. All three Fitzpatrick’s turned to look at the man who spoke. Heather’s heartbeat stuttered as the officer who had been across the room now stood only a foot away from her.
Want to review or comment on this book?
Need a FREE Reader Membership?
Reviews for "The Abolitionist's Secret"
Reviewed by miranda liasson
12/3/2012
For those of you who loved feisty Ginger Fitzpatrick’s story, your wait is over...Becky Lower brings us book two in her Fitzpatrick family saga, focusing on Heather, younger sister of Ginger and twin sister of Jasmine. Even if you haven’t read the first book, you can easily begin with this one.
Lower again combines a sweeping story set in an America on the cusp of being divided into North and South, and again brings us complex and emotional family dynamics that ring true to real life.
Heather and her boisterous, trouble-making twin Jasmine are just beginning their coming-out Season, but Jasmine gets sidelined by an injury and is forced to stay on the sidelines...for once.
Heather, who has tended to live in Jasmine’s shadow, suddenly discovers what life is like on her own. She finds herself aiding an escaped slave and her child, and falling in love with a dashing Southern army lieutenant...who happens to be tracking the very slaves Heather has aided...for they have escaped from his own plantation.
Despite their differences, Heather and David fall in love...but how can an abolitionist ever marry a slave owner?
When Heather journeys to David’s plantation, she begins teaching slaves to read and finds her calling as a teacher. But David’s mother is an ominous adversary, determined not to allow a Northerner to change the traditional way of life she has so carefully planned to preserve for her son. She seizes an opportunity provided by an impulsive act of jealousy by Heather’s twin to attempt to destroy Heather and David’s love.
You will greatly enjoy this story of self-discovery as Heather learns who she is as a person apart from her twin, and wonder if love can be strong enough to alter beliefs that have driven families and cultures for centuries.
You will be sad when it ends...but don’t be too sad, because Heather and Ginger have a rakish brother, Basil,
whose story is up next from this talented author.
Crimson Romance Author Becky Lower introduced us to the Fitzpatrick sisters in July and we liked that Ginger and Joseph Lafontaine got together. We love that younger sister Heather meets and falls in love with David Whitman, a Southern plantation owner and Army lieutenant tracking a runaway slave in the second of her Cotillion series, “The Abolitionist’s Secret.”
If you liked the first installment, you’ll find the second one warmer, more romantic and a tad nail biting. Ms. Lower escorts us to our second Cotillion Ball in New York where the two meet and the romance begins. How we wish we could dance in that magnificent ballroom.
As is her way, Ms. Lower not only subtlety educates us about slavery and plops us into the abolitionist movement, she introduces us to another strong heroine with brains and backbone – traits she’ll use wisely in Lt. Whitman’s Georgia home. Heather objects to slavery and strives to educate her fiancé against the practice as well as educate the slaves – a crime punishable by death. Readers root for Heather to best her future mother-in-law, a woman many of us may, ahem, recognize.
The fine blend of history, heartache and happy-ever-after once again exemplifies why Becky Lower is one of our favorite authors.
Reviewed by Sharon Lee Fernberg
11/12/2012
In her second book of the Cotillion Ball series, author Becky Lower has continued to captivate this reader with her interest in history that is woven during the time before the Civil War and "the winds of change" regarding the issue of slavery. The heroine, Heather Fitzpatrick, is an abolitionist. The hero, Lt. David Whitman ia an army officer whose father owns a plantation in the south. After becoming betrothed, the two of them travel to Georgia to see David's father who is dying and also to meet his mean-spirited mother, a woman who has other plans for her son to marry a southern neighbor. What intrigues this reader is what Heather does to help the slaves and how his mother becomes so cruel to the depths of maintaining her home and southern dignity. I could not put this book down. The author made me feel as if I was the heroine and had traveled into the past. I recommend this book highly. Becky Lower's interest in true American history research regarding the topic in each of her books makes this reader anxious to read all the books in the Cotillion Ball series, and any other books she has written.
Reviewed by Linda Smith
11/4/2012
This romantic tale unfolds against the backdrop of increasing tensions between the slave-holding and free states in pre-Civil War America. Heather is a New York debutante beginning her first season alongside her identical but somewhat shallow twin sister Jasmine. The more socially responsible twin falls in love with a dashing young army officer. But Heather is involved with the abolitionist movement and finds her love tested when she learns that David is heir to a Georgia plantation. After she and her chaperone travel south to meet her betrothed's drying father and domineering mother, Heather's beliefs and lifestyle put her in a dangerous situation. Can these star-crossed lovers prevail? I spent a few late nights glued to my computer to find out for myself. This is the second book of the new Cotillion Ball series by Becky Lower but it stands alone as a compelling historical romance.
