Sarah, the daughter of two Fante kidnapped in their adolescence and sold into slavery, grows up on a plantation in Virginia, learning that nothing is more valuable than family. As an adult, how far will this phenomenal woman go to rescue a brother stolen by slave catchers? With her country denying freedom to her neighbors, how can her fabulously wealthy Quaker friend refuse the opportunity to embark on the adventure of a lifetime?
Out of the Shadow of Darkness is the second book in the Esi Was My Mother series. Esi and Kofi, two kidnapped Fante from West Africa, gave birth to several children while enslaved in Virginia. Among them are Fannie and Dan, the two featured in this historical novel that is the product of research in countless documents and over 400 books, found in many archives and ten libraries located in five states.
The Courtship of Queens explores the struggles of Fannie and Dan, two siblings, who escaped from slavery in the 1820s. They are trying to create enduring romances in a world constructed to marginalize people with their profiles.
During turbulent times, in The Cloud’s Whisper, passion peaks again and again. Dan Crispin, a man who escaped from slavery, spent his early years seducing and abandoning more women than he intended to remember. After nearly being killed by slave catchers he was nursed back to health by his first love. Feisty and steady Zephyrine grounds him as he becomes a successful pre-Civil War Cincinnati businessman. His redeemed life is filled with romance, dangerous work as an Underground Railroad conductor and the unending attempt to right past indiscretions.
River Woman was born Fannie, daughter of Esi and Kofi, Fante captured in West Africa. She is the fictional sister of the author's 4th Great Grandmother, Sarah. Both women were runaway slaves. Instead of remaining in an abusive marriage, the woman who was to become River Woman relocated to the west. Through a series of adventures, she became wife to the Bannock war chief, Swift Eagle.
While The Lion and the Lamb may be read as a stand-alone, it also builds upon the story line from Sarah’s Song, Out of the Shadow of Darkness, The Courtship of Queens, The Cloud’s Whisper, and River Woman Joined at the Heart, the first five books in the Esi Was My Mother series. Among the continuing themes are the proper relationship between siblings and the African-American, European-American and Native American engagement in the anti-slavery movement.
