No Man's Chattel: An Arkansas Family's Struggle Through Reconstruction

No Man's Chattel is the story of a young widow facing poverty and displacement after the Civil War. Hannah Ruth Murphy takes her mother-in-law Naomi and her brother-in-law back to the cotton plantation where Naomi grew up. Hoping to find some degree of security, they find the house has been badly damaged in the war. A great deal of land surrounds Sanctuary Hill, but as most people in the South after the conflict, they have little money, and the labor needed to grow cotton has been emancipated.
Hannah is determined to make a living on the land. She feels she has no other choice as her husband, who died in the war, left her with a large debt and poor memories of their life together. She vows to take care of her family because she promised Colonel Benjamin Murphy as he lay dying that she'd see to their safety and well-being. The problem she faces is that she knows nothing of farming. Furthermore, she refuses to allow anyone else to take control of her life again.
Hannah grows up quickly in the Arkansas Delta, where she meets good people who teach her to trust, reach out, and love again. The best lesson she learns is that faith and interdependence on God will make the possible even when all seems lost.