Dark Legacy

Dark Legacy begins during the last year of the life of Jessie Judas, a famed marine biologist and author, who has suffered most of her life from a haunting half-memory of a dreadful event in her past.As a young girl growing up practically orphaned, with little or no education, on a nearly deserted Outer Bank island, Jessie has the good luck to meet a visiting writer, a folklorist.The writer becomes Jessie's teacher, protector, and eventually, mother. Unknown to Jessie, her father, who has been serving time in prison since she was an infant, returns to the island, incognito. His only desire is to observe his daughter and make sure that she's safe. He has no intention of interfering in her life if he's satisfied. He finds young Jessie living with her stepfather, a travelling evangelist, whose mental state is somewhat questionable. But since Jessie is also under the influence of her friend and teacher, the folklorist, Jessie's father hesitates to reveal himself and intrude in her young life. His hesitation to do so is one of the elements creating the tragedy that shadows Jessie's life. Two levels of story explain the loneliness of Jessie Judas as they advance and meet, become one at the end. Elements of the novel: passionate love, sometimes sexual and sometimes not, adventures on land and sea, an isolated, nearly-forgotten Carolina island, great wealth, great poverty, nobility, and, possibly, murder.