Possession of Willowland Manor — Linda Hughes

Willowland Manor is nestled inside sprawling cotton fields and patches of dense, Mississippi woodland. Ten years ago, the Civil War came to its bloody finish, freed the slaves, and brought ruin to the manor -- burnt fields, expensive labor, and the death of two of the three Wayland sons.

William, the manor's master, is desperate and struggling to keep his plantation running. Abigail, the mistress, cannot cope with her new life without slaves, majestic parties and balls, and a carefree, luxurious existence.

William and Abigail's sole surviving son, Ronald, feels the family's immense pressure to marry into wealth and save the manor's social and financial status. But Kizzi, a house servant and former slave, is the object of Ronald's unwelcome attentions -- the kind of attention that leads to motherhood.

When Abigail discovers this disagreeable situation, she arranges to have Kizzi and the unborn child gotten rid of. But Kizzi's final, dying words call upon supernatural forces more powerful than death to exact revenge for her suffering and murder.

Willowland Manor may have survived the Civil War, but can it outlast a battle against a voodoo curse?