A Taste of Freedom

The Civil War looms in the near future. George knows that with his war experience he will be expected to lead men into battle. He has seen the horrors of war and knows how bad this one will be. He doesn’t believe the South can win and he also believes that he will not return so he wants to train his slaves, especially Lila as a leader, to save Sweetwater Plantation. A Taste of Freedom does not shy from telling the atrocities of slavery. There is frequent violence and its description. Some chapters will be unnerving but necessary to convey how a race of people were inhumanely treated and yet maintained an inner strength, and some chapters are entertaining and funny.

George Stuart has returned home to his beloved Sweetwater Plantation from the Mexican American War where he assisted Jefferson Davis in successfully leading the Mississippi Rifles to many victories which allowed America to acquire the vast New Mexico territory. George’s son, Robert, upon learning of his father’s returning to Sweetwater, left the plantation to join and support the cause of slavery against the abolitionists in the bloody Kansas War. Lila, a slave in charge of the Big House and George’s lover and confidant, has waited longingly for his safe return. She and Thaddeus, the white straw boss, have kept the plantation working to the best of their ability while waiting for George. All of the population of Sweetwater welcomed him home. George Stuart stems from a lineage of rough/tough American frontiersmen and has killed many men from an early age to current. He carries no regrets. He is a fair and honest man that cares deeply for his home, Lila, as well as all who are close to him. The Civil War looms in the near future. George knows that with his war experience he will be expected to lead men into battle. He has seen the horrors of war and knows how bad this one will be. He doesn’t believe the South can win and he also believes that he will not return so he wants to train his slaves, especially Lila as a leader, to save Sweetwater Plantation. A Taste of Freedom does not shy from telling the atrocities of slavery. There is frequent violence and its description. Some chapters will be unnerving but necessary to convey how a race of people were inhumanely treated and yet maintained an inner strength, and some chapters are entertaining and funny. The reader will not be disappointed, but please don’t tell how it ends.

My name is John Wesley Brown. I grew up on a small farm in rural Leon County on the west side of Tallahassee, Florida. I attended Florida State University. I dropped out of school to work in heavy construction in order to save enough money to take my very pregnant Jewish wife to live in Israel on a kibbutz. After a year on the kibbutz the safety factor was becoming questionable so we returned to the U.S. I wrote while in Israel, but everything was in longhand and hard to decipher upon returning. We soon divorced and I reentered FSU, taking course work in photography, film, art history, and the humanities, but I soon had another nice girl pregnant which changed my plans again. I went back into construction and we also divorced. Obligated to support my children, I started the first tent and party business in Tallahassee and ran it successfully for many years before selling it in order to care for my mother and return to writing. But my love at that time shocked me with the news that while I was putting in those long hours and paying off all the debts, she had developed a new life and for sure didn’t want to be married to a struggling writer. Who could blame her? I got my third and final divorce, but kept writing. I have two other novels completed and epublished. No Purchase On Tomorrow is a story of two sisters in love with the same man. Both are beautiful and have their doctorates, but one is physically challenged and is forced to use a wheelchair. The Lark: A True Story Based On Pure Fantasy is also a love story about a middle age divorced man who falls for this wild and crazy younger female. It is sexually explicit. A good story with a sexy romp. These two novels were written to entertain. A Taste of Freedom, I feel, is more literary. I also have written many short stories that I intend to epublish. Thank you for your interest. J.Wesley Brown