He simply carried the buckets to the Locktons' gate for me, then walked away.'Ĭhains is at times quite a violent book and so I would recommend it for experienced readers aged 11+ and all adults. ' The cut on my left hand pained me too much to use it, and my right hand was not big enough, I journeyed in a crow-hop fashion - carrying one bucket for twenty strides, setting it down, then returning to fetch the second bucket and carrying it forward to meet its partner. Here is a scene where Isabel has been sent to fetch water. Both have been lied to and double crossed but they will find freedom. He never gives up on Isabel and when events conspire against him, Isabel shows her own deep loyalty.

Isabel is made to work so hard in the Lockton house but she makes one very important friend. The author web site has excellent teaching notes. You can read more details of the plot here. You can listen to a little of the first chapter here. Then she got sold to Rhode Island, and the ghosts of her parents couldn't follow and protect her' All of Momma's people had been stolen too, and taken to Jamaica where she was born. That's why kidnapped Africans got trapped in the Americas. ' Momma said that ghosts couldn't move over water. Isabel must leave her dead mother behind knowing she cannot follow : The scene where they are taken from Newport is heart wrenching. The wife, Mrs Lockton, is a cruel mistress. Their mistress dies and the pair are sold to a couple from New York City. Isabel and her very young sister Ruth are slaves. I could hear, see and even smell every scene.

Laurie Anderson is able to touch every sense with her writing. More importantly I have 'walked in the shoes' of a slave gaining a little insight into these events from her point of view. Thanks to Laurie Anderson I not only feel I know a lot more but I feel as though I have truly been transported back in time as a witness. I can hardly wait to read the rest of the trilogy.īefore you read my thoughts about Chains click on this podcast and listen to the first section where four US students talk about their reactions to this book and you can also hear from the author.Ĭoming from Australia I am largely ignorant about the American revolutionary war of 1776 and I knew nothing about the events in New York city. I don't give ratings but this is a ten out of ten book. At 3am I was still reading and by 11am the next day (after a little sleep) I finished this breathtaking book. As is my usual pattern I thought I might read a chapter or two before bed. We have had Chains in our library for over a year but oddly I kept bringing home the sequel.

Chains anderson