In the aftermath of the Battle of New Orleans, Captain Henry Fallow wakes up surrounded by the bodies of his brothers in arms; wounded and delirious, he flees the battlefield and its ghosts through the swamp and the trees. Eventually, he stumbles upon Thérèse and Jeannette Bondurant near the main house at the Chalmette plantation, and begs them to help him.

The sisters, caught in the act of unearthing stolen pirate treasure, debate whether killing the redcoat wouldn't be the safer choice under the circumstances: not only are their countries at war, but they can't risk anyone knowing about the jewelry, lest their cousins claim it as part of their inheritance. Should that happen, Thérèse's life wouldn't be much different than it has been since the death of her parents a few months earlier; Jeannette's fate, on the other hand, would be infinitely worse.

Their decision to tend to Henry's wound, rather than killing him or letting him die of his injury, starts a chain of events that ends, several months later, in London.

Caveats: the author is white, writing several non-white characters; death of parents; racism; attempted rape of a child and its aftermath; racist and ableist terms of the period; sex on page; death in childbirth.

Thérèse is the firstborn illegitimate daughter of Alphonse Bondurant, a landowner who died intestate and without direct heirs; her mother was the granddaughter of an enslaved Chocktaw man and an enslaved Black woman, and her grandfather was her mother's Spanish white owner, who freed mother and child upon his death. Jeannette's mother was one the late Bondurant's Black slaves, and she herself was the only slave he didn't sell before dying. By American law, his land--and Jeannette--will now go to his eldest nephew, a man Thérèse knows to be despicable.

However, the late Bondurant had once been a minor associate to the Lafitte brothers; his only tangible legacy to his illegitimate daughters was a small casket of jewels he had buried in the plantation's kitchen garden some years past. Having finally found this pirate's cache, Thérèse hopes to sell some pieces discreetly, thereby raising enough money to buy her sister before their cousin Bertrand sees her; Jeannette may be only thirteen, but younger slaves than her often weren't safe from their white masters.

As things stand when Henry shows up, neither sister has any reason to trust white men, be they known or strangers.

Henry is the second son of an English baron and his French émigrée wife; in the usual way of things, the second son of the Farlow family would have joined the Church, and inherited the living in their Cumberland estate, while youngest son Edward would have been expected to join the army. However, despite sharing excellent tutors with both his brothers, Henry struggles to write and read, and eventually his parents decide that the least embarrassing option is to send him off to war; there, they reason, his lack of intelligence will be easy to hide.

More than five years later, Henry has developed strategies and coping mechanisms to hide his disability, but every day he dreads the possibility of being found out for the simpleton he believes himself to be. It is true that he is now a captain who has served his country with honor in Spain, Portugal, and now in America, but nothing can make up for "his idiocy". His internalized shame is such that he has resolved never to marry, and never to risk getting a woman with child, lest he pass his "infirmity" on.

The worldbuilding in this novel is complex and layered; it is clear throughout that the author did a lot of research--though it's lovely to see it confirmed in the author's note at the end, as well as an acknowledgement of all the social and cultural issues of the time that are touched on in the text.

Because there is a lot of history interwoven in the narrative; from the war between Britain and its former colony to the abolitionist movements in both countries, from racism to class differences, from social position to social responsibilities. Even the different flavors of Christianity prevalent within the different territories have a role to play in the story.

As they flee from the surviving Bondurant and the slave catchers sent after Jeannette, the three main characters have to grapple with all of this, and more.

I very much appreciated the protagonists' innate goodness, and the fact that whenever they hit an impasse, they eventually talk it out; usually at the first opportunity, in fact. Thérèse calls Henry out for his racism, Jeanette calls Thérèse out for her privilege, and both adults forge healthy relationships with Jeannette and each other. There is substantial personal growth for all three throughout the narrative; after all, Henry is twenty five, Thérèse is twenty-one, and Jeannette is only thirteen, very much still a child in many ways.

Of note is the nuance in the sex scenes; there's more than lip service both to Henry's resolve not to sire a child who would potentially share his disability, and to Thérèse's need to remain a virgin (and therefore "respectable" enough to marry). As they indulge and pleasure each other short of intercourse, both of them ponder the wisdom of carrying on thus.

"Her maidenhead felt like a scanty fig leaf indeed. What did it really mean to say she'd come to her husband a virgin when she had spent hours naked in another man's arms?" (Thérèse, chapter 12)

From the start, Henry truly tries to be a good person, beyond the rote definition of the time, and wants to do right by the sisters, on their terms, while Thérèse is determined to give Jeannette a realistic opportunity to have the best life possible for her, and Jeannette...Well, Jeannette steals every scene she's in, for multiple reasons, even though the story is told only from Henry's and Thérèse's points of view.

Henry is resourceful in a crisis and stalwart throughout, even as he suffers the shame of his illiteracy, and with his realization that, as much as he believes in the cause of abolition, he harbors some ingrained racist beliefs; when confronted with his own family's racism, he isn't quick or decisive enough to protect Thérèse and Jeannette.

"I'm taking you to England, where you'll be free beyond question." "You cannot honestly tell me that in England blacks are the equal of whites, when you have slaves of your own in the Caribbean." (Henry to Jeanette; Therese to Henry, chapter 3)

After all, Henry is not only white, he's also the son of a peer, and while Thérèse can pass for white, she very much doesn't want to--never mind that Jeannette, who is her only family, very much can't.

"Henry felt his own whiteness, the benefits his color and aristocratic ancestry gave him, in a way he'd never considered before. This was about whether anyone like him could be trusted with a woman like Therese or a girl like Jeanette." (Chapter 4)

Jeannette grew up as a plantation house slave, while Thérèse was born free and received an education befitting a lady of class and wealth. One sister is mourning her recently deceased parents, who loved her openly, while the other lost her mother years before, and has always resented the father that kept her as property, then failed to ensure her future safety. Thérèse isn't comfortable with her role as older sister, and Jeannette fears being left behind; it takes time for all the friction between them to fade enough for them become family in more than just blood.

"No one has it easier than a rich white man, that's certain" "Yes, but there's few people in the world fortunate to be all three at once. The rest of us must make the best of who we are and what we have. The sooner you learn to be practical, the happier you'll be. Being practical makes it easier to survive." "Someday I'd like to do more than just survive." (Jeannette and Therese, chapter 6)

By the time the story ends, all three have grown, and a number of issues between them have been resolved; I'm convinced that Henry and Thérèse will be happy together, and that Jeannette will be able to make the most out of both her freedom and her intelligence.

However, most of the conflict between the two main characters is brought about by circumstances they can't change; their race, their class, the accidental killing of Bertrand Bondurant, Henry's dyslexia, and so forth.

"When you marry outside your rank, the world makes it their concern. If you marry outside your race, you'll live to regret it." (Obadiah Wilson to Henry, chapter 11)

For some readers all the external conflict overwhelmed the characterizations, and even the romantic relationship between Thérèse and Henry. I do have a few quibbles myself; as much as I loved the world the author created, and cared for the three main characters, the brief, rather anticlimactic bleak moment near the end that's followed almost immediately by the "baby epilogue" so prevalent in genre romances, isn't exactly moving.

The story would have benefited from a slightly longer page count in order to tease out more nuance on some of the points of conflict between Henry and Thérèse that feel slightly heavy handed; a feeling accentuated by the abrupt, rushed ending.

(A pettier complaint is that, while Henry remarks on the diversity of London's population in comparison with New Orleans, there's not even a passing mention of immigrants from any of the Asian colonies of the British Empire.)

This is the author's last published book, and what a loss that is.

Freedom to Love gets an 8.75 out of 10.

Henry Farlow is a British officer who was injured in battle. He was left there after the battle, everyone presuming he’s dead. He manages to leave the field where the battle took place and finds himself at a plantation. He comes across a woman and a girl who are digging in the lawn. They take him to the house and take care of him, but they want him to leave asap. Unfortunately, despite the fact that the plantation house belonged to their father, it doesn’t belong to them. Their father has died and left it to a nasty relative. Unfortunately that relative shows up while the trio is there. He’s drunk and when he tries to take advantage of Thérèse’s sister, Jeannette – who’s a slave, Henry protects her and accidentally kills him. Then the three of them are on the run. Henry must make it to a fort to prove he’s not a deserter.

Thérèse’s father was a plantation owner but Thérèse’s mother was his mistress and a seamstress. She is cuarterona (someone who is ¼ African descent) but she’s also Native American. Though Henry doesn’t care and starts to fall in love with her, she’s not sure what their future looks like. They decide they’ll make their way to Canada, where slaves are free, and start a life. With Henry and Thérèse pretending to be married, and Jeannette their slave, it puts them in close quarters. Henry and Thérèse start to fall in love, but how can they be together when interracial marriages are illegal?

Right when they think things are looking up for the trio, they head to England to deal with Henry’s parents (to prove that he’s alive) and then they’ll head back to Canada to start their life. Once they get to England, however, they find that Henry’s life will never be the same, which means Thérèse’s won’t either.

I really loved the first part of this story. I loved Thérèse and Jeannette and their determination to make a better life for themselves. I really liked Henry and his honor. The trio’s journey was fraught with danger and I was completely sucked in.

Then they got to England. I wish I could say that even that part was wonderful, but I personally think it got boring. It was definitely more personalized because of Henry’s family and how they dealt with Thérèse, but I started to dislike Henry a bit and it just wasn’t as good as the first part of the book.

Despite things changing for me in the second half of the book, it was still good. I’d still definitely recommend this as it was well written and kept my attention.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5