Eliza experiences the horrors of slavery at an early age--she sees newborn babies torn from their mothers and knows of the cruel sun and even crueler overseer in the cotton fields. Even as her cousin Abram strives to protect her from these harsh realities, Eliza cannot escape the hatred of the master's daughters, when they stare at her fair skin and blue eyes. Freedom seems faraway, but somewhere, among the cracking whips and scorching heat, lies hope.Schwartz's gripping coming-of-age novel set in the pre-Civil War South depicts the anguishing hardships imposed by an inhumane system, but also celebrates the resilience and determination of the human spirit.