Martin Jackson is the first Negro slave born at Mont Blanc. Martin and Master Tom's youngest daughter Sarah are close in age. He is well liked by Sarah's family and often accompanies Sarah and Master Tom on his business trips to Charleston. It was on one of these trips that Martin realizes the difference between him and Sarah. She is free, white, and rich. He is only a piece of property. Martin vows to one day be free. To take care of himself, he needs to learn to read and write.                        

He convinces Sarah to teach him secretly. The young teenagers sneak out at night and meet in an old smokehouse. It was during this time that they fall in love. A fire exposes their secret and Martin is sold to an evil master. Sarah is sent away to boarding school in Europe. 

Martin escapes with the help of another slave. They travel the Underground Railroad north to a free state. He lives as a free man for two years, but is haunted by his promise to return for his parents and Sarah. Martin enlists in a Black Regiment of the Union Army Sherman's March to the Sea brings him back to South Carolina. Will he and Sarah be reunited?

 

About the Author

Mary Bernard Shay is a mother of five, three sons, and two daughters. She is also a grandmother to five children, three granddaughters, and two grandsons. She lives in the small mill town of Madawaska, Maine on the U.S.-Canadian border. Mary started writing about three years ago, when someone suggested she write her autobiography on how she became a survivor of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Forbidden Love is her third book to be published. She writes mainly historical fiction, but she has experimented with other genres.