Pryor Knowledge: Horse Racing, Love, and Slavery int he Antebellum South

Ben Pryor’s passion for training horses oozes from his very marrow.

In the early 1800s, a zeal for horse racing binds the young nation together. Dramatic races shared national headlines with westward expansion, obscene wealth from ‘king cotton,’ and a rising bitterness between the North and South.

Ben’s father, descended from colonial Virginia’s elite, sees his zeal as a character flaw. After all, in the Early American South, most trainers are enslaved. Undeterred, Ben flees to Natchez, Mississippi, vowing to prove everyone wrong.

Determined to stay untouched by politics, Ben keeps his head down and his focus strong. Yet, in a country churning with change, circumstances force him to face the friction that sparks and flashes around him. Should he follow the law? Or do what’s right? When unexpected love blooms, will romance derail dreams of becoming one of the nation's top trainers?

Based on real and fictional characters, PRYOR KNOWLEDGE transports readers through the gumbo of charm and debauchery that was the lower Mississippi River.