Necessary Sins
Elizabeth Bell
In antebellum Charleston, South Carolina, a Catholic priest grapples with doubt, his family’s secret African ancestry, and his love for a slave owner’s wife. “A rare breed of book, invoking family epics of the past such as The Thorn Birds… [Elizabeth Bell] renders a vivid world that truly feels like stepping back in time… Extremely highly recommended.” — (Historical Novels Review)
In early 1800s Charleston, South Carolina, a Catholic priest grapples with doubt, his family’s secret African ancestry, and his love for a slave owner’s wife.
Necessary Sins is the first book in the sweeping Lazare Family Saga that transports readers from the West Indies to the Wild West, from Charleston, Paris, and Rome into the depths of the human heart. Passion, prejudice, secrets, and a mother’s desperate choice in the chaos of revolution echo through five generations as the multiracial Lazare family struggles to understand where they belong. If you enjoyed The Thorn Birds or the novels of Sara Donati, dive into Elizabeth Bell’s epic historical fiction today.
“A feast of a novel by an extraordinary new voice. Haunting, meticulously researched, and exquisitely told through characters so human you’d swear they have beating hearts.” (Kathleen Grissom, New York Times bestselling author of The Kitchen House)
