Annis, an enslaved teenager in the pre-Civil War South, begins her story in North Carolina before being sold by the white man who fathered her. Chained in a coffle, she marches toward the slave markets of New Orleans and eventually to a sugar plantation in Louisiana. Throughout this forced migration, Annis communicates with the spirits of her ancestors and a shape-shifting entity named Aza. She uses memories of her mother’s martial training and an internal map of the natural world to survive physical brutality and the loss of her family.
Readers of historical fiction who prioritize internal psychological depth and supernatural elements over standard linear narratives will find value here. This book is for those who seek to understand the intersection of American chattel slavery and African spiritual traditions. The reader finishes the text with a visceral sense of the geographic toll of the domestic slave trade. They walk away with a specific perspective on how enslaved people maintained a sense of interiority and ancestral connection while navigating a landscape of total commodification.
Inward-looking; a moderate read.
Best for readers like The Empathetic Explorer. Which reader are you?
- Published
- 2023
- Language
- EN
