Spanning generations, explores the lives of three women: Miss May Belle, a wise healer; her precocious and observant daughter Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother's footsteps as a midwife; and their master's daughter Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women come to a head at the birth of an accursed child, who sets the townspeople alight with fear, spreading superstition that threatens their newly won freedom.
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