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Self-Liberation of Parson Sykes: Return to Southampton County by David J. Mason

With a victorious end to the Civil War, Parson Sykes fulfilled the goal of self-liberation, but he grew frustrated with the Reconstruction programs. At the suspension of open hostility, he recognized the need for complete emancipation. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, he must advance civil and human rights to gain real freedom. As post-war planning emerged, new challenges arose. Parson grew frustrated with the connivance practices in racial superiority and inferiority that hindered everyday freedom.
Parson experienced the chaotic end of the Civil War while serving in the Union Army. Grappling with military-civil affairs duty, political uncertainty, and the unfulfilled promises of emancipation, Parson realized the Emancipation Proclamation did not go far enough. Following the defeat of the Confederacy, vicious racial violence characterized the resistance to integrating Black people.
Parson joyously learned that Federal government created the Freedmen’s Bureau to help formerly enslaved people transition to freedom with humanitarian aid. Parson relentlessly advocated and pursued education, political participation, and full citizenship. With the creation of the Bureau, he felt less pressure.
Parson witnesses the final year of the Civil War and the chaotic dawn of Reconstruction, learning about the complex political fight for civil rights from mentors and personal observation. Parson’s insights taught him that in war, the victory is just the blossom, and nothing is more frustrating than a bloom that refuses to morph into some fruit.
Parson returns to Virginia, where he confronts the defeated confederates, including the rise of hate groups and violent insurgents. In Southampton County, the Bureau mediated sharecropping agreements between white landowners and Black families after the constitutional end of enslavement. Despite granting freedom, the federal government took little action to help Black families acquire the promised land.
Through his interactions with mentors, Parson becomes a fierce advocate for the human and civil rights of Black Americans, focusing on education, land ownership, and political participation. He navigated the legal and social struggles surrounding the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, revealing both the hope they inspired and the violent backlash they provoked.
With the passage of these amendments, they guaranteed equal rights for all citizens and prohibited states from denying the right to vote based on race or color. Simply put, Parson’s efforts to gain freedom, citizenship, and equality required long-term commitment, resilience, and perseverance.
Having secured his right to vote and purchase land, Parson married, started a family, and established himself as an independent community leader in Southampton County, achieving a hard-won personal liberation despite the systemic failures of the Reconstruction era.
As revealed by Parson’s genealogy, Reconstruction has ongoing effects, especially in the importance of addressing root causes and the need for ongoing human and civil rights enhancements. Racism is an inescapable reality in the American society. Still, the complexities of social problems, with their cultural subtleties and interconnectedness, demand a deeper understanding and more nuanced approaches than those used in managing a political solution.

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Goodbye, Earl: A Second Chance Regency Romance by Ava Devlin

Five years ago, Claire Hightower ran away from the man she loved.
Freddy Hightower had once been her reckless a stolen groom, a whirlwind elopement, a future built on stars and scandal. But debts and dice chipped away at everything they had—until Claire fled with nothing but her unborn child and a fistful of pawnable jewels.

Now Freddy’s back.
Sober. Steadier. Still gorgeous and charming and chaotic—but also different. He’s returned to the Cotswolds for his mother’s wedding with an infuriatingly unflappable determination to win back his wife, his home, and his role as a father to the son he’s never met.

Claire isn’t handling it well.
She’s built a new life full of found family, sharp-tongued support, and exactly zero patience for handsome men with bread dough on their cuffs and cowlicks that match her son’s. But Freddy is relentless. Confident. Charming. And still so, so sexy. And he’s not the meddling heroes and heroines of books past are gathered around her table, judging gently—and helping themselves to pie.

Some love stories don’t start at the beginning.
Some start five years later, in an idyllic corner of the English countryside, unfolding alongside midnight banquets, whimsical summer games, and the second marriage of a woman who finally chose joy.

And some require a formerly estranged rake to roll up his sleeves and get his hands dirty, in more ways than one.

Goodbye, Earl is a second-chance Regency romance about flawed men, furious women, and the long road to trust. It’s the fourth book in the Ladies’ Revenge Club series and, while the story will make sense when read on its own, this one is best experienced when read in order. If you crave mature romance, found family meddling, slow-burn heat, and ensemble hijinks served with cherry pies and poor impulse control—this one’s for you.

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