Golden Years - Sam C. Ramey

Set in the cotton-rich South during the turbulent decades leading up to the Civil War, Golden Years follows Ray Crain, his wife Nancy, and their young daughter Martha as they leave the bustle of Charleston, South Carolina, for the promise of a new life on a small farm in Georgia. What begins as a search for opportunity quickly becomes a test of conscience when Ray crosses paths with a desperate runaway slave-and makes a choice that could cost him everything. Through raids and patrollers, backbreaking work and whispered talk of war, Sam C. Ramey brings to life the everyday people who lived in the shadow of "King Cotton." With plainspoken power, he shows how ordinary families were caught between the lure of prosperity and the brutal reality of slavery, and how courage and compassion could still take root in hard, unforgiving soil. Golden Years is both an engrossing historical tale and a moving family story-perfect for readers who love American history told through the eyes of those who had to survive it.