Zeal

Morgan Jerkins is the author of Zeal, a novel about star crossed lovers.  In Natchez, Mississippi, Harrison returns a free man after fighting in the Civil War. He is looking for Tirzah, the love of his life. He goes to the plantation where they both were slaves but she is not there. He finds the wallet he gave her years ago. He writes to the Freedman's Bureau in search of information about her. He eventually marries a different woman. Tirzah, newly freed, is working at a school in Louisiana. She sees the add Harrison wrote but it is too difficult for her to get to Natchez. She eventually marries a man in Louisiana. Tirzah and her family move north to fight oppression. The lives of Harrison and Tirzah and their descendants continues until an engagement party in Harlem in 2019. This was an excellent story about the power of love.