Barton Place

By Stephan Bellesini

Evelyn Barton was destined to die in 1825, but a stranger from the future traveled back in time, arriving at Barton Place, an estate that had been in the Barton family since 1743, and then changed everything for Evelyn Barton and her family.

EVELYN is the only daughter of THOMAS and ELIZABETH BARTON of Barton Place, Thomas's inheritance, following a family lineage since 1743, when King George II bestowed the earldom of Barclay on his great grandfather, with land nestled between Cambridge, Brighton and Brookline, overlooking the Charles River on the outskirts of Boston. This earldom passed to his son and heir, Vinvent Barton, who in 1775 renounced the Barclay title, and renamed it to Barton Place, based on his strong antagonism to debtors' prisons. During the Panic of 1796-1797, his strong convictions compelled him to stand surety for debtors and thereby save them as denizens of debtor's prison. As a refuge, these debtors rented at minimal fee a patch of land on Barton estate, sustaining themselves through husbandry. Thomas unknowingly inherited these servitude contracts, and when the Panic of 1819 struck, he stayed true to his ancestral convictions and took on even more debtors' debt, otherwise destined for debtors' prison.

By 1823, the panic was over, but not for the Bartons. Despite his substantial inheritance, in the autumn of 1825 Thomas found himself mired in debt, with his daughter on death's door, hopeless to save her life or his estate from bankruptcy. Thomas never doubted that MR. HAGEN, his creditor, aimed to obtain Barton Place in a clandestine manner, even by debtor's imprisonment of Thomas himself. Hagen postured himself as a refined 'cream of the crop' grandee of Boston, having built his immense wealth from income through loans, not through labor.

Amidst these overwhelming burdens, REED WHITAKER, a lawyer and orphan with a physical disability, came knocking at Bartons' door for help, cognisant of their commitment to providing shelter in times of need. He sought refuge on Barton Place, known as the "poor farm." Reed had impulsively entered into a plea deal in court that morning to repay his client's debt to Hagen, which upon reflection, forced him to close his practice and take retreat on the "poor farm." With him, he brought a dark secret intertwined with the legacy of the late Vincent Barton.

By now, the army of 'tenants' had swelled to frightening proportions - discharged soldiers, sailors, unemployed artisans, rootless immigrants, bewildered widows, and orphaned children blended into a growing mass of paupers. Poor husbandry kept them trapped in chronically low-yield in the wake of the substantive conflict between the farmers on the Barton estate and Boston merchants, Hagen's business associates who largely controlled the market. The presence of so many desperate men and women horrified Thomas and his family. Winter was knocking at the door, and doom was certain for everyone.

Again, the odd but resourceful stranger from the future conceived a rescue plan that changed the 'season' - "let's science the heck out of this place!"

As Evelyn fell in love with the stranger, she found more and more excuses to keep him at Barton Place, further straining the Bartons' relationship with the Hagens, especially as the Hagens were desperate to marry their daughter off to this man everyone had dubbed "the miracle worker", and would confirm the Hagens' status among the Bostonians.

Romance, lust, murder, suspense, and mystery surround everyone involved with Barton Place, and the ending surprises in the epilogue, leaving the reader with a sense of satisfaction and nostalgia.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B09ZCX7KVR
• ISBN13: 9798817850321
• Release Date: May 2022
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 354 Pages
• Weight: 1.14 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"