1861. Victoria was queen, Abraham Lincoln was president, and Britain ruled the waves - and most of the planet. Against this backdrop, Aminta finds the past has a longer reach than she realized. She thought England, a world away from the fields of Georgia, would be the key to her freedom. Here, she could go where she wanted, work when and for whom she wanted, and associate with those she wanted. Yet she finds a new set of obstacles: a society that, while outwardly against the evil that flourished in the nation of her birth, was still just as controlling and structured. And is her past truly behind her, or is it simply waiting to return the moment she least expects? *** A lady's companion was a young woman hired by childless older upper-class women in the Victorian era as a "substitute daughter" or chaperone. *** This is my first serious attempt on this site, and this work is mostly to help me develop a writing habit. Constructive criticism is welcome!