The Secrets of Heavenly

Heavenly Plantation, Book 1

By: Teresa Robison

Narrated by: Chris Abell

Olivia's marriage to an African-American man was unacceptable to her mother Emma, Southern-bred descendant of prominent South Carolina slaveholders. Olivia assumed that bigotry was the product of her mother's loyalty to long-dead relatives, an allegiance to maintain the family's white blood line. After Emma's death though, Olivia finds a letter and an old journal among her belongings. Soon, she discovers the secret that prompted Emma to irrationally blame an entire race - a secret that had nothing to do with family history, although it strongly paralleled another tragic event from the past.

1846, Marianne Witherell's journal: Before Lincoln and the American Civil War, slavery is at its peak in South Carolina. A young slave girl named Willa suddenly arrives at Heavenly Plantation with her mother Heddie, destined to serve the wealthy plantation family as house servants. Right away, two of the Master's children - Marianne and Seth - forge a bond with Willa, in spite of their older brother Foster's warnings about the evils of mixing with the "darkies".

Although she grows up in the "big house" treated like family by her pair of white friends, Willa cannot forget that she is still a slave. Never is that fact made clearer than when Foster cruelly taunts and threatens her in secret. As it threads through the lives of its diverse characters, this novel captures the complicated and often violent nature of life in the antebellum South.

As Willa's story is told, a dramatic tapestry is woven, binding the Witherell family to a web of secrets that include forbidden love and faithful friendships alongside dangerous obsessions, mental instability, and even murder.

©2013 Teresa Robison (P)2016 Teresa Robison

Did not care for narrator

The storyline and overall content was good. The narrator was not appropriate for this type of content.

What happens in the dark always comes to the light!

I loved the story although I almost put it down, I even had to hear the ending first before I continued due the unknowing of what's to happen. I was truly there with the characters on this emotional journey! Well played...

Was it intentional for the Narrator to sound racist?

The Narrator (or is it the author) portrayed the enslaved characters in a way that was typical to how blacks were portrayed in Jim Crow era movies and TV shows. I can’t imagine quality narrators wanting to portray enslaved people as witless! On top of that I can hear the dryness in the narrator’s voice/ mouth. I would be too embarrassed to recommend this audible to anyone I know.

Exceptional!

This was a great read. I like that it went into a lot of detail about the personal experience of slavery in the South. I was also glad that they pointed out that not all southerners condoned slavery.

Always the dirty end of the whip?

Lazarus' faithfulness and selflessness is love. Seth's love trumps this? Such is the stuff of fairy tale plots.
This is an interesting and well written piece of fiction that kept me pulled in until Seth' s look of love trumps Lazarus' demonstrated devotion. Seth leaves with his forever servants