Scarlet Acres

Josiah Winship apprentices his daughter, Suzanna, to Charlotte Hitchins, wealthy owner of Scarlet Acres Plantation. Miss Charlotte’s dissolute son, Beriah, is furious when his mother cuts him off, and appoints Suzanna to manage her holdings. His scheming quadroon lover, Lutie Mae Pickens, is pressuring him to make her mistress of the plantation. His gambling debts are mounting, and creditors are hounding him. He needs money, now! Miss Charlotte’s sudden and mysterious death plunges three families into a labyrinth of secrets and dark passions that ultimately end in violence and murder.

Scarlet Acres is a depression era saga of greed, rape and matricide. But it also depicts unselfish love and sacrifice as Steve Freeman, a young black man, struggles with a forbidden desire for Suzanna that cannot cross color barriers. It is the riveting story of a tenant farmer’s daughter and her rise from poverty to riches despite impossible odds.