Trouble the Water

In "Trouble the Water," 17-year-old Abigail Milton moves to Charleston to escape her family's crippling debt, only to find that her benefactor, the disagreeable widower Douglas Elling, is not the man her parents described. Assigned to the care of a governess, Abby begins to settle into his grand estate, but her world is upended when she overhears a plot involving the escape of a local slave. As Abby delves deeper into Douglas's life and his ties to abolition, their complicated journeys intertwine against the rich historical backdrop of Charleston before the Civil War, exploring themes of trust, secrets, and societal challenges.