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The Price for Liberty: Book 7 of the Douglas Family Saga
‘When Tomorrow Comes is crafted in gorgeous prose, and the author’s characterization gift shines on every page. The sparkling dialogue creates the drama that moves the narrative forward. The emotionally resonant characters captivate readers, and the finely drawn setting pulls readers into a place and time they find hard to escape.’
—Reviewer Jeff Klune, August, 2024 Book Commentary LLC
When Tomorrow Comes won Honorable Mention in both the NY & San Francisco 2023 Book Festival. Reader Views awarded DL Larson a 5 Star Readers Award and Bronze Award in the 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards, for her novel When Tomorrow Comes.
Now comes...The Price For Liberty, Book 7.
Hattie is shot. Ruf fears some scoundrel he encountered from the horse race wants to harm him by hurting her. Hattie doesn’t blame him, but she hasn’t wanted to be close either and Ruf tries to understand her fears. He heads to Paducah, hoping Sheriff has some insight as to who is to blame for causing such heartache.
Ruf also plans to head south to visit his cousin Jim Frailey, who is going to college in Georgia. Jim’s letters of late border on reckless and Ruf realizes Jim plans to kill his wife’s brother for sending bounty hunters after her. As Ruf waits for the boat, Sheriff approaches him, along with another man who flashes a federal marshal badge. Ruf is arrested for murdering the bounty hunter Virgil Lane, the man who mutilated and killed Shanna four years ago.
Jim’s father sends him to New York City to be away from Ruf’s incarceration and the upcoming trial. Being in New York is torturous for Jim because his abolitionist lover is there. He can’t have controversy hanging about his name and vows to stay away from her, which fails miserably. He needs to stay out of society in order to protect his mulatto daughter, Liberty. Guilt sends Jim back to Kentucky to help Ruf and protect his daughter from prying eyes.
He’s too late. The prosecutor discovers Liberty’s heritage, and the judge has no recourse but to send Jim’s little girl into slavery and him to jail for harboring a runaway slave. The Fugitive Slave Act prohibits anyone from searching for Liberty. Stealing her back is illegal. Finding her impossible.
Ruf doesn’t care much for laws anymore and sets out to find his little one. It may well be the worst decision he’s made in his life.
—Reviewer Jeff Klune, August, 2024 Book Commentary LLC
When Tomorrow Comes won Honorable Mention in both the NY & San Francisco 2023 Book Festival. Reader Views awarded DL Larson a 5 Star Readers Award and Bronze Award in the 2023 Readers’ Choice Awards, for her novel When Tomorrow Comes.
Now comes...The Price For Liberty, Book 7.
Hattie is shot. Ruf fears some scoundrel he encountered from the horse race wants to harm him by hurting her. Hattie doesn’t blame him, but she hasn’t wanted to be close either and Ruf tries to understand her fears. He heads to Paducah, hoping Sheriff has some insight as to who is to blame for causing such heartache.
Ruf also plans to head south to visit his cousin Jim Frailey, who is going to college in Georgia. Jim’s letters of late border on reckless and Ruf realizes Jim plans to kill his wife’s brother for sending bounty hunters after her. As Ruf waits for the boat, Sheriff approaches him, along with another man who flashes a federal marshal badge. Ruf is arrested for murdering the bounty hunter Virgil Lane, the man who mutilated and killed Shanna four years ago.
Jim’s father sends him to New York City to be away from Ruf’s incarceration and the upcoming trial. Being in New York is torturous for Jim because his abolitionist lover is there. He can’t have controversy hanging about his name and vows to stay away from her, which fails miserably. He needs to stay out of society in order to protect his mulatto daughter, Liberty. Guilt sends Jim back to Kentucky to help Ruf and protect his daughter from prying eyes.
He’s too late. The prosecutor discovers Liberty’s heritage, and the judge has no recourse but to send Jim’s little girl into slavery and him to jail for harboring a runaway slave. The Fugitive Slave Act prohibits anyone from searching for Liberty. Stealing her back is illegal. Finding her impossible.
Ruf doesn’t care much for laws anymore and sets out to find his little one. It may well be the worst decision he’s made in his life.
652 pages, Paperback
Published November 20, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 28, 2025
The Price for Liberty by D.L. Larson is a historical fiction and book seven in the Douglas Family Saga. The story picks up in 1855 at the Kentucky horse race where Ruf is shaken by the reappearance of Bull Rawlings after a few years, his violent rival who came close to nearly killing Ruf years ago. Larson does a good job bringing his unresolved trauma into his present triumph against Rawlings and his cronies. Shortly after, Hattie and Liberty arrive and their short-lived reunion turns into horror when Hattie ends up wounded. This violent act reopens wounds, unburies enemies, and sets the stage for the legal, moral, and emotional battles that ensue.
The emotional stakes begin to deepen as Hattie hangs on in her fragile state and Ruf has this simmering rage that shapes his choices going forward. The sheriff attempts to dismantle Ruf’s certainty that it was Bull Rawlings who was the shooter. This forces Hattie and Ruf to maybe consider that someone else was targeting her. Ruf begins to search for answers while Hattie’s life hangs in the balance. Larson makes sure seeds of emotional conflict are strategically planted in these early chapters. The pacing is also brisk at points, but it works. We see Hattie trying to push Ruf toward other women while she makes plans to marry Jim to secure Liberty’s future. This really brings out Ruf’s anger, feeling like “hand-me-down” emotional goods. Larson layers the early chapters with a mixture of mystery, emotions, romance, and family drama.
The author does a great job shifting the focus to Jim Frailey, then spreads the story across Kentucky to Savannah plantations. Jim is a brilliant orator at the University of Georgia, but his goal or secret mission is to murder Robert Campbell, the man responsible for killing his wife, Shanna. He is also torn between the current woman he loves, and the secret surrounding Liberty’s parentage. Meanwhile, the social world he’s exposed to in Savannah is filled with privilege and performance, and this is where Jim reunites with an old acquaintance out of New York, Peg. There is some attraction and I get the sense that there is also unfinished business between the two. Larson also ties elements of slavery and abolitionists’ views into the storyline. I enjoyed this because we’re talking about a time period when slavery was very much still a normal part of the antebellum south. So, this makes sense to add into the narrative.
The pacing intensifies in all the right places in this story. I like how the tenderness is shown when Jim has his reunion with Liberty and tries to assume or reclaim his parental role. Larson really highlights the fault lines in this improvised family, with Ruf constantly put in the shadows, Hattie as the caregiver, and Jim as the father from far away. But we also find out some interesting truths about Liberty’s full parentage, more about Jim’s past with Shanna and it just brings the whole narrative together very nicely, in between Jim’s incarceration. I was also screaming at the book when Jim decided to testify at Ruf’s trial when he went back to Kentucky. But so many hidden secrets were let out of the bag that had me gripping the book as I turned page after page.
Readers, in my opinion, are probably going to react in a multitude of ways, especially as they get into part two of the book. Once they turn those pages, they will not be able to turn back. I also love how the story continues to expand beyond Kentucky and Georgia. It goes into the Virginia and D.C. territories and by the time we are in part four, we are taken to Denver and North Carolina. It gives us a nice and well-rounded trail of where life leads these interesting characters.
But the drama continues to follow as well and that’s what makes the storyline even more interesting. We see who Jim becomes, with his freedom in Washington and New York being conditional. We also see who Ruf becomes, especially as they hunt for Liberty. Then we meet Melody, who emerges as an emotional hinge between Ruf and Jim. It gets so messy and I think readers are going to be shocked but also here for the juicy drama of it all.
The emotional payoff by the end is satisfactory and I think it’s done with restraint without being unrealistically tidy. I have been waiting for this since the beginning of the book. Larson made the journey, the secrets, and the timelines all work together while readers also get to see the nation marching toward a Civil War. It gave it more realistic elements. This can easily be compared to Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale for the emotional grit, political stakes, family sacrifices, and the secrets that were revealed. The Price for Liberty by D.L. Larson is definitely unforgettable.
The emotional stakes begin to deepen as Hattie hangs on in her fragile state and Ruf has this simmering rage that shapes his choices going forward. The sheriff attempts to dismantle Ruf’s certainty that it was Bull Rawlings who was the shooter. This forces Hattie and Ruf to maybe consider that someone else was targeting her. Ruf begins to search for answers while Hattie’s life hangs in the balance. Larson makes sure seeds of emotional conflict are strategically planted in these early chapters. The pacing is also brisk at points, but it works. We see Hattie trying to push Ruf toward other women while she makes plans to marry Jim to secure Liberty’s future. This really brings out Ruf’s anger, feeling like “hand-me-down” emotional goods. Larson layers the early chapters with a mixture of mystery, emotions, romance, and family drama.
The author does a great job shifting the focus to Jim Frailey, then spreads the story across Kentucky to Savannah plantations. Jim is a brilliant orator at the University of Georgia, but his goal or secret mission is to murder Robert Campbell, the man responsible for killing his wife, Shanna. He is also torn between the current woman he loves, and the secret surrounding Liberty’s parentage. Meanwhile, the social world he’s exposed to in Savannah is filled with privilege and performance, and this is where Jim reunites with an old acquaintance out of New York, Peg. There is some attraction and I get the sense that there is also unfinished business between the two. Larson also ties elements of slavery and abolitionists’ views into the storyline. I enjoyed this because we’re talking about a time period when slavery was very much still a normal part of the antebellum south. So, this makes sense to add into the narrative.
The pacing intensifies in all the right places in this story. I like how the tenderness is shown when Jim has his reunion with Liberty and tries to assume or reclaim his parental role. Larson really highlights the fault lines in this improvised family, with Ruf constantly put in the shadows, Hattie as the caregiver, and Jim as the father from far away. But we also find out some interesting truths about Liberty’s full parentage, more about Jim’s past with Shanna and it just brings the whole narrative together very nicely, in between Jim’s incarceration. I was also screaming at the book when Jim decided to testify at Ruf’s trial when he went back to Kentucky. But so many hidden secrets were let out of the bag that had me gripping the book as I turned page after page.
Readers, in my opinion, are probably going to react in a multitude of ways, especially as they get into part two of the book. Once they turn those pages, they will not be able to turn back. I also love how the story continues to expand beyond Kentucky and Georgia. It goes into the Virginia and D.C. territories and by the time we are in part four, we are taken to Denver and North Carolina. It gives us a nice and well-rounded trail of where life leads these interesting characters.
But the drama continues to follow as well and that’s what makes the storyline even more interesting. We see who Jim becomes, with his freedom in Washington and New York being conditional. We also see who Ruf becomes, especially as they hunt for Liberty. Then we meet Melody, who emerges as an emotional hinge between Ruf and Jim. It gets so messy and I think readers are going to be shocked but also here for the juicy drama of it all.
The emotional payoff by the end is satisfactory and I think it’s done with restraint without being unrealistically tidy. I have been waiting for this since the beginning of the book. Larson made the journey, the secrets, and the timelines all work together while readers also get to see the nation marching toward a Civil War. It gave it more realistic elements. This can easily be compared to Kristin Hannah’s The Nightingale for the emotional grit, political stakes, family sacrifices, and the secrets that were revealed. The Price for Liberty by D.L. Larson is definitely unforgettable.
December 2, 2025
The Price of Courage and Love
I was completely drawn into Ruf and Hattie’s world. Every page made my heart race, fear, hope, and determination weaving together. Ruf’s fight to protect those he loves, and the impossible choices he faces, made me feel every moment of tension and heartbreak. This story isn’t just about survival, it’s about love, loyalty, and the cost of doing what’s right. I couldn’t put it down.
I was completely drawn into Ruf and Hattie’s world. Every page made my heart race, fear, hope, and determination weaving together. Ruf’s fight to protect those he loves, and the impossible choices he faces, made me feel every moment of tension and heartbreak. This story isn’t just about survival, it’s about love, loyalty, and the cost of doing what’s right. I couldn’t put it down.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews