Description: Roxana has known and loved Joss for as long as she can remember, ever since Joss came to Grey's Landing, in 1826, to be Roxana's nursery maid. Roxana thought of Joss as family, even before the deaths of her mother and brother in a tragic river-boat accident. When Roxana's father, a judge, is called to Washington, she must stay behind with Joss and the other free blacks on the plantation to run things and to "light the lanterns" -- to act as a stationmaster, if necessary -- on the Underground Railroad! But even more unsettling, to Roxana, is the thought that Papa will be traveling on the river. When reports of brutal slave catchers in the area make it clear that Joss and her fiance must seek refuge further north, it's up to Roxana to escort them, posing as an arrogant young slave owner. Her former teacher, Miss Hattie Beecher of Cincinnati, hates slavery, but will Roxana be able to overcome her crippling fear of the river long enough to get them to her? And will others on board the riverboat, particularly the young Southern gentleman who takes a fancy to Roxana -- see through her performance? Or is he, too, masquerading -- and more dangerous than he seems?

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