A novel on the 1830s Seminole War in Florida between the United States and the Indians. The story is told through the eyes of Calida, a half-white slave and maid to a planter's wife. The wife frees a Seminole chief captured by her husband, for which the husband murders her. A witness to the killing, Calida flees to the Seminoles but the planter comes after her.
In 1830's Florida the Seminole Indians and fleeing slaves are brought together in the swamps of the Everglades. The main characters are an Indian and a young slave girl who are both targets of the army and who eventually fall in love. Amid rising tensions of the 1830's in Florida, the Seminole Indians retreat into the darkness of the Everglades swamps, rather than be sent to reservations. They are joined by runaway slaves fleeing cruel plantations owners. Calida is one such slave; she falls in love with the Seminole War Chief, Panther. When Panther, War Chief of a small Seminole Indian band, attempts to rescue a fellow tribe member from a Floridian plantation, he is captured by the owner, Reddin. Knowing Reddin will likely kill Panther, Caldia, a half-black slave, secretly frees him. Reddin decides to make Caldia pay--in his bedroom, but his wife discovers them. Enraged, Reddin murders his wife, makes it look like a Seminole Indian is to blame, and calls in the Military. Caldia escapes and is deep in the Everglades trying to survive when Panther finds her. With enemies closing in on all sides, the pair face an even greater danger: the forbidden love growing between them.
REVIEWS: "Munn brings into sharp relief the hesitant attempt of slaves and Indians to bridge vastly different cultures and experiences in order to find love and freedom." Publishers Weekly "An entertaining, fast-moving, fascinating, and well-researched work of historical fiction." Affaire de Coeur THE SOUL SURVIVORS SERIES, in series order Seminole SongSpirit of the EagleWind WarriorThe River's Daughter

ABOUT VELLA MUNN: Vella Munn is a third generation writer who has always felt the need to write. Vella's earliest creation was a comic book staring the Lone Ranger's horse, Silver. Then Vella fell in love with America's first people, the American Indian, and committed herself to bring their stories to life amid the pages of historic romance novels.