With the War over, it was said that “millions” of former slaves had somehow landed in Chicago, but was Annie among them? Was it right to move on without her? Though he’d done something unthinkable, he loved her so much after she was sold away in chains, he vowed to find her and make things right. Long before the day when raggedy Rebel soldiers came down the plantation road looking for trouble, Hemp had fallen for Annie, and they married. It also gave her guilty time to spend with Hemp Harrison, who said he was a married man. She couldn’t say she liked working for Sadie but assisting with séances left Madge with plenty of time to build her apothecary and a little business.

The voice in her head - an insistent voice that said he was a soldier once - sent her to Madge.īorn to a woman who was more interested in being a root doctor than in being a mother, Madge left her Tennessee home as a teenager - unloved by her mama but knowing how to use plants and seeds to heal. As they deserted her, Sadie knew she needed a maid. She couldn’t mourn she barely knew Sam, which made the staff uncomfortable. Sadie might have even fallen in love with him, had he not been killed in a train accident. Sam purchased a house in Chicago, furnished it and hired staff in anticipation of having a wife to display. She was hastily married to a wealthy man she barely knew because it was safer that way. Her parents had seen things differently, however. She’d supposed, instead, that she’d live in Pennsylvania after the Civil War ended, and go on with her life as though there was never any war. Moving to Chicago had never been part of Sadie’s plan. But in the new book “Balm” by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, the only thing that soothes is forgiveness and restitution. You might even add a glass of something tasty and a novel you’ve been dying to read. After a long day, nothing makes you feel better - especially when you pair soft tunes with a hot bath and solitude.

Balm by Dolen Perkins-Valdez