Chains of Time

1859 Mkembro, West Africa

"I know what's going to happen," says chieftain's daughter Amara as she wakes on the morning of her wedding to discover that she has been blessed -- or cursed -- with the power of prophecy. In her visions, she sees the slaver Van Owen, who will soon arrive on Mkembro's shores. Her father will challenge the invaders, wielding magic against rifles and whips, and setting in motion Amara's bid for freedom -- a quest that will extend for five generations. But no wait is too long, for Amara can see far into the future, and Van Owen is immortal.

Chains of Time tells two interweaving stories -- Amara's nineteenth-century slave chronicle and the tale of her modern-day descendants in Harlem, all of them fighting to find their voices, their redemption, and their freedom.