Content levels
Trigger warnings
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
Dana, a modern black woman, is celebrating her twenty-sixth birthday with her new husband when she is snatched abruptly from her home in California and transported to the antebellum South. Rufus, the white son of a plantation owner, is drowning, and Dana has been summoned to save him. Dana is drawn back repeatedly through time to the slave quarters, and each time the stay grows longer, more arduous, and more dangerous until it is uncertain whether or not Dana’s life will end, long before it has a chance to begin.
Kindred: content & age rating
Intended for adult readers (18+).
This novel contains graphic depictions of slavery including physical violence, whipping, sexual assault, and racial abuse. The unflinching historical realism serves the story's powerful examination of America's past but is deeply disturbing.
What to know going in
This book has strong violence, moderate sexual content, and moderate language. Content notes include sexual assault, torture, slavery, physical abuse, and captivity (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Adult readers will be gripped by this time-travel story that forces a modern Black woman to survive slavery and confront impossible moral choices.