Cane River : On a Creole plantation on the banks of Louisiana's Cane River, four generations of astonishing women battle injustice to unite their family and forge success on their own terms. They are women whose lives begin in slavery, who weather the Civil War, and who grapple with the contradictions of emancipation through the turbulent early years of the twentieth century. There is Elisabeth, who bears both a proud legacy and the yoke of bondage . . . her youngest daughter, Suzette, who is the first to discover the promise - and heartbreak - of freedom . . . Suzette's strong-willed daughter Philomene, who uses a determination born of tragedy to reunite her family and gain unheard-of economic independence . . . and Emily, Philomene's spirited daughter, who fights to secure her children's just due and preserve their dignity and future.