New Moon Rising — Eugenia Price

Love, determination, and courage abound on a picturesque Georgia island as the St. Simon's Trilogy continues. In her second novel, the author of The Beloved Invader takes you once again to St. Simons, the enchanting Georgia sea island that was the setting for her first .. this time to tell the story of an honorable man in conflict with his society... Horace Gould is the younger son of a rich cotton plantation owner, who reaches manhood in the desperate years before the bloody Civil War. Deborah is his beautiful child bride. While older ladies watch for signs of his 'wicked past,' Deborah adores her lord, who initiates her into the joys of womanhood. Later she repays him a thousand fold as she guards his children on the plantation under siege of the Yankee soldiers, while Horace heroically fights for the hopeless Southern cause...