The Forbidden Brief

By: Hackensmith, Jean

"A truth the history books forgot."

The year is 1784, and in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains, one road divides two worlds.

On one side lies the tax-heavy authority of North Carolina; on the other, the defiant, "lost" State of Franklin. In Franklin, the law is simple: attorneys are "parasites," and the penalty for practicing is the gallows.

Jonah Cross lives a dangerous double life. By day, he is a humble surveyor in the Franklin wilderness. By night, he retreats to a cellar across the border, using his disgraced past as a Virginia barrister to draft secret legal defenses for desperate settlers.

His survival depends on the shadows-until Zanna Blair arrives. Zanna's homestead is
caught in a violent seizure by Franklin's radical militia. She seeks a surveyor to clarify her boundaries, unaware she has found the only man capable of manipulating the law to save her home.

Based on the true historical struggle for the "State of Franklin," The Forbidden Brief follows Jonah into the heart of a forgotten rebellion. As the simmering feud erupts into the bloody Battle of Franklin, Jonah must decide what is worth more: his secret, his safety, or the woman who has forced him to find his conscience.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0H4X8HBP6
• ISBN13: 9798180777195
• Release Date: June 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 268 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.0" x 8.0"