4.5 stars 
 Excellent book. I really loved all three main characters: William, Ellis and Harte. They each had so much to overcome, but everything that they endured just made them stronger in the end. This would have been a 5 star read for me except for one thing (view spoiler)[I never understood why William didn't just make Ellis a slave and keep him instead of letting him go to Jude's. There was nothing stopping William from having a second slave, and both he and Harte wanted Ellis, so why let him leave? (hide spoiler)] I would love to read other books by this author.