July 1854, Colleton District, South Carolina
Posey was an eighty-four-year-old Nigerian man whose expert river-irrigation management earned untold riches for the Tiffany family. They enslaved over three-hundred African Americans on the eleven-hundred-acre slave labor camp that they called Tiffany Plantation, the largest rice producer in South Carolina’s Colleton District. Determined to put a stop to robberies of African graves, Posey murdered the robber boss.
More conflict arose when James, the new general manager at Tiffany, realized that Posey’s expertise would be essential for the success of a plantation he plans to gain with ill-gotten money and slave mortgage-backed securities. All the while, the widow Ella, an enslaved nurse-midwife, sought to realize her dream of marrying widower Posey. Matters grew worse when Posey thwarted James’ first attempt to force his attention on Penny, a comely young enslaved wife and mother who is an apprentice of Ella.
In this epic, one hears the anguished voices of enslaved people and their captors. Bob Rogers grasps us by the hand and leads us into the lives of Posey, Ella, James, and Penny as they experience revenge, infanticide, homicide, abortion, murder, rape, sabotage, a hurricane, courtships, high-stakes gambling, failed rebellions, grave robbing, counterfeiting, and more.
“De troubles Posey be sees” in Two Rivers reminds one of Southern Gothic storytelling.
