SCOTT HARRINGTON is a former slave who is also a complicated man. He is domineering and demands that everyone (including his wives) refer to him as “Mr. Harrington”. Slavery is his point of reference, and he uses it to control, dominate, intimidate, rule, and charm his prey. As a charismatic phenomenon, he possesses a dysfunctional influence over the Seamore family. James Seamore, Sr. not only owns Scott and his brother, Walter, as human chattel, but he is also their biological father who refuses to acknowledge them. For generations to come after the abolishment of slavery the Harrington brothers remain entangled in a love/hate relationship with the Seamore family.
BELLE is wild, crazy, and promiscuous. She is a self-absorbed femme fatale who believes that Scott loves her since he keeps her as his mistress throughout three marriages. She is delusional and refuses to accept the fact that although he continues their salacious affair, he will never marry her. He is well aware of her cold, calculating, and dangerous ways. As far as he’s concerned, she’s good for only one thing.
Belle’s great sense of pride is her physical appearance. She looks like a white woman and believes this gives her leverage over every other woman in Gulf, North Carolina. Belle deals in roots and has a relationship with an evil root doctor.
LILLIE and Scott grew up on the Seamore Plantation together. Upon learning they have been emancipated, they marry. While Scott’s good looks are overwhelming, Lillie is a mild and unassuming woman. Belle viscously attacks the pregnant Lillie, who along with her baby, dies during a premature childbirth brought on by the attack.
IRIS meets and marries Scott after Lillie’s death. Belle is devastated and cannot understand why he chooses another Plain Jane over her. Just when she thinks she’s over him, he comes back into her life and the steamy affair resumes. Iris can’t take the humiliation and the town gossip any longer. Unlike Lillie, she is not afraid of Belle and confronts Scott’s mistress.
Iris develops a terminal disease and dies at a young age. Scott continues to carry on his affair with Belle throughout Iris’ long and debilitating illness. After she passes away, his relationship with Belle becomes public. When his son, HERBERT, catches him with Belle, he has a vicious fight with Scott. The fight between father and son leads to Herbert running away from home and Scott never sees him again.
For years after the death of Iris, Scott and Belle are involved in what she believes is a loving relationship. Just when she is comfortable and is anticipating marriage, the unthinkable happens again and he abandons her.
MARY MARKS is considered a handsome, as well as a strong woman. Scott sees her as another chance, via divine intervention, to have a decent woman in his home, taking care of him and his children. She is the kind of woman he’s been looking for and will not let his relationship with Belle prohibit him from having Mary as the next Mrs. Harrington.
Belle is livid and decides to wage war on Mary. She consorts with the evil root doctor “The Geechee Woman” to destroy Mary. The rumor mill was already implicating her in the untimely death of Scott’s second wife, Iris.
THE GEECHEE WOMAN is a root doctor who comes from the low country in South Carolina. She is one of the most feared throughout the South. Her slave masters fear her so much that they sell her off to other slave owners until she is ultimately brought to North Carolina. She has a long history with Belle that originated with Belle’s mother, May Granger. For years May used the Geechee woman to reign terror throughout Lincoln County. She introduces Belle to the Geechee at an early age and indoctrinates her daughter into certain taboo practices orchestrated to destroy her enemies with evil.
MAUDE is the oldest daughter of Mary Marks. The widow, Mary, brings two daughters from a previous marriage to her new marriage to Scott. Maude is unlike anyone Scott has ever met. She is strong-willed, unwavering in her love and support of Mary, and fearless. Maude battles with him for years, and although he never comes to terms with her strength, in time he is forced to respect her.
BEOLIA is the youngest of the two daughters Mary brought to her marriage to Scott. Unlike Maude, Beolia isn’t a physical warrior or aggressive personality. Her strength lies in her intelligence. She desires to have a loving relationship with Scott but is fully aware that he does not treat her and Maude like he treats Walter, Leotia, and Novella.
LEOTIA is the first child of Scott and Mary. She is a quiet and spiritual child. Spirituality is her way of dealing with the drama and family chaos that is inherent to living with Scott Harrington. However, Leotia is a paradox. While she is quiet and spiritual, she inherits Scott mastery of holding a grudge. Leotia stumbles upon one of his dark secrets and discovers that he too has a relationship with the evil root doctor. It is then she turns the tables on him and gains her freedom from his tyranny.
WALTER is the first son Scott fathers with Mary. After losing his first son, who died at birth along with Lillie, and then having Herbert walk out on him forever, Scott believes that with Walter he has been gifted another chance to have a father/son relationship. Unconsciously, Walter develops some of Scott’s characteristics – namely the attraction to power and money. He blames Scott for the inescapable family turmoil. The father/son conflict continues until Walter leaves North Carolina at the age of 15.
NOVELLA is the love of Scott’s life. She is exquisitely beautiful, angelic, and almost mythical. Her power over her father does not go unnoticed by everyone else. In his eyes, Novella can do no wrong. However, she does what no other woman has been successful at accomplishing and delivers to Scott a devastating blow that brings him to his knees.
The Emancipation of Scott Harrington 