Free Falling by Sherri Neilson is a story of reincarnation set mainly in South Carolina just prior to the Civil War.

The novel begins in the present day with Denise, the narrator, finding her nights interrupted with terrifying dreams of falling. The dreams are so disturbing that she turns to Dr Leopold, who analyses her dream. He suggests that regression hypnosis might help her and before too long she finds herself agreeing to be hypnotised.

Under hypnosis Denise becomes Olivia Walters the new wife of Byron Walters, a plantation owner in South Carolina. Having been raised by her Uncle Victor, a kindly man who treated his slaves like family and friends, it is a shock to her to find that her new husband treats his slaves with a cruelty that sickens her.

Olivia tries to make things better for the slaves and finds herself at odds with her husband and it is not long before his turns his violence on her.

Life is only made better for Olivia when she befriends Wilson, the coach driver. New to the Chesterfield Plantation he has not yet had his spirit broken by his owner.

Over the months their friendship turns to love, a dangerous love that could get both of them killed if Byron were ever to discover their secret.

Even as the war approaches, Olivia and Wilson plan a dangerous escape north on the underground railroad. But will they be able to manage the gruelling journey or will Byron catch up with them and reclaim his property…both of them!

Building to a dramatic climax this is a bittersweet romance novel which brings the Old South to life with a vivid clarity.

Discrimination is shown in several of its forms and Olivia and Wilson must both battle to overcome their respective positions in life in they are to have any hope of changing things for the better.

With only one brief return to the present day Olivia and Wilsons’ story plays out with no observations from Denise at all. She is merely an observer of her former life. In fact the story itself stands very well on its own without the modern day setting at all. However the modern day setting does tie in very well with the story as Denise searches to find if Olivia had ever existed and uses her knowledge of the past as a way to avoid history repeating itself.

As a reincarnation story this is a strong and powerful tale of forbidden love. However if you are expecting the heroine to go back in time and relive her past life as other novels featuring regression hypnosis do, you will be sadly mistaken. Unlike those novels, as good as they are, this novel uses regression hypnosis in a more traditional and likely way. As such you can almost believe that Olivia, Wilson, Byron and the other wide variety of characters really did exist.

A powerful debut novel.

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