Book Blurb:
Moments in Time – A Lineage Saga is an anthology-style novel spanning over two-hundred years and covers family bonds and dysfunctions, taboo relationships, love, oppression, desire, torment, heartbreak, good, evil, myths, and truth.
Enslavement – Three African Sisters
Stolen from the West Coast of Africa, three young girls are taken to a new world. As they learn the ways of a plantation house slave, the bonded sisters become skilled in the language, and the duties required. Unfortunately, all will not heed the warnings to hide their feelings and safeguard their hearts. The results will lead their lives down very different paths. Details of their stories will be passed from generation to generation.
Ensnared Heart – Ripples in the Bloodline
At the turn of the Century, descendants of settlers, slaves, and natives had their own communities. The Magee’s were a massive colored family flourishing within the confines of Jim Crow Laws. Lurell Ann saw life differently than foretold. Her feelings and choices made it difficult to balance her heart, and the concrete boundaries for a colored woman of the time. Will her decisions bring her ultimate happiness or great suffering?
Empowered – Beyond the Split Tree
In a time of civil rights activism and Black power, Hellene Ann Murry loved being with her family in Washington Parish. She learned so much from her grandmother Lurell Ann, and the older generation of women. However, will the legacy among gravestone secrets inspire her to escape the trap of hatred, or will it detonate the destruction of her family?
Enlightenment – Truth, Wisdom, and Happiness
Delphine Asha Delacroix had no intention of sharing her past pain with her adult daughter. But when Chantal-Marie said she was losing the connection to her roots, Delphine decided it was time. As the triumphs and devastation from their bloodline stories are revealed, will the truth bring them closer, or will it chisel away the bond between mother and daughter?
This award-winning novel is for adult readers.
Book Buy Link: https://geni.us/nehQN3
Author Bio:
Firebird Award Winning Author O'Shan Waters has been writing poems and short stories since high school. An avid reader she wanted to be a writer but life took her to another career. Although she journaled, it was after her children grew up, that she picked up the creative pen again. Her passion renewed she began to write from a mature lens more descriptive poetry and diverse stories with deep, complex characters, exciting plots, and meaningful concepts. Inspired by the works of Toni Morrison, Agatha Christie, Jane Austen, Walt Whitman, Maya Angelou, Alexandre Dumas, and others, she gathered the courage to write for an audience instead of just for herself and close friends. And now, there's no looking back! O'Shan currently resides in the Pacific Northwest. When she's not writing, she indulges in other loves including performing arts such as modern dance, ballet, symphonies, musicals, and plays. She also loves listening to smooth jazz, enjoying classical music, and traveling to tropical vacation destinations, and she loves dipping her toes in warm aquatic pools, clear brooks, and streams around the world. As a xenophilia, she's always learning about different cultures and considers herself a food connoisseur. O'Shan's stories and poems resonate with those closest to her but she hopes readers will also enjoy her published works. After all, life is better with a book in hand-especially when paired with a cup of tea or glass of wine!
Editorial Review:
Around the early 1700s, many African slave ships that came to Louisiana had come by way of the Caribbean. They traveled from the West African Coast and stopped off on Atlantic islands to trade, sell and restock supplies. The voyage on these ‘floating graves’ carried enslaved men, women, and children in small spaces for weeks only to be sold into a world of oppression, cruelty, and suffering.
Enslaved people were obligated to participate in whatever forced breeding system the slave owner had in place to generate more workforce property. Of course, human-owned females were commanded to work from sun rise until sun set, harvesting plantation fields under excruciating conditions with no real consideration of their physical differences to males. Unlike her male counterparts, it is not commonly known of the additional horrors an enslaved female would have to face during her lifetime.
Setting the atmosphere for the drama, the novel opens with a striking scene depicting the sisters' life just before their kidnapping. The reader is drawn in by the first paragraph's tragic blend of innocence and foreshadowing, which combines the promise of an epic story with the unwavering links of sisters and the terrible realities of life.
In O'Shan Waters' "Moments in Time: A Lineage Saga," three African sisters who were taken from their home country and thrown into the turbulent world of American slavery are depicted as resilient, a family, and a resilient spirit. This multigenerational historical narrative delves deeply into the themes of love, treachery, and the quest for independence.
Stolen from the West Coast of Africa, three young girls are taken to a new world. As they learn the ways of a Caribbean plantation house-slave, the bonded sisters become skilled in the language, and the duties required.
Unfortunately, all will not heed the warnings to hide their feelings and safeguard their hearts. The results will lead them down very different paths and their stories will be passed from generation to generation.
It covers over two hundred years of a family’s lineage, their bonds, and their dysfunctions, taboo relationships, the good and the bad, and everything in between. From page one, much of it is difficult for me to read, since my family lineage has the same start in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade, but these are stories that need to be told, and I was so happy I read it.
With such skill, O'Shan Waters tells the story of three sisters, from their kidnapping in Africa to the changing lives of their descendants, in a way that is both intimate and wide. The plot captures our attention right away, moving from the brutal realities of slavery to the complex difficulties of navigating a society that is segregated. Every generational tale is painstakingly multi-layered, demonstrating the lasting power of familial ties as well as the cascading impacts of previous choices.
One of "Moments in Time's" best aspects is the characters. Every character has a deep emotional depth, unique voices, and is beautifully rendered. Each of the three sisters' characters is shaped from the outset in a way that makes their decisions, triumphs, and setbacks profoundly relatable. Relatives' intricacies and metamorphoses as they enter and exit the storyline mirror the changing social mores and individual goals.
The book is organized nicely, with distinct breaks between the many viewpoints and eras. of order to make sure that the reader's journey through the pages is as seamless as the story is captivating, the formatting helps in navigating through the intricate lineage and the shifts of time and locale. Precise editing has been done, taking great care to preserve language authenticity and historical correctness.
“I just wanna explain… Honest, dat be all. Ta talk. Chester come on. We friends. I care ‘bout her. I don’t want her hatin’ me for goin’ and doin’ what we gonna be doin’ in dat cat house.”
Chester chuckled, “John-Robert, ya know I can’t. Ya two be gettin’ too close anyways. Ya know’d it. I trust ya but I can’t sneak her out. Tell me what ya wanna say… I’ll tell her for ya.”
Frustrated and desperate John-Robert grunted, then gave in and told him what to say. “All right, tell her like dis, Ya eyes be like dah moon so bright. We countin’ all da stars in heaven. Ya skin is soft like willow moss. I dream of ya sweet smellin’ hair. I be floatin’ on…”
Dropping his fishing pole and waving his hands between them, Chester shouted, “Hell naw! I aint tellin’ my sista no sucha thang. Alright, I’ma tell her ta meet ya but not dah tree, ‘cus my sistas all know’d ‘bout dat. Hmm… In da tobacco barn before supper. No body be in there. It be light out and she can slip away wit no one worryin’.
Despite the wide range of years covered, the narrative has outstanding continuity, with each chapter of the book flowing naturally into the next. Personal achievements and historical occurrences are connected, giving the plot a strong foundation. This emotional as well as chronological consistency preserves the core of the sisters' early experiences and their influence on later generations.
Every chapter of the story ends with a feeling of resolution that is both realistic and emotionally fulfilling, yet still allows space for the reader's reflection. The book's themes of perseverance and atonement are powerfully wrapped up in the finale, which leaves the reader with strong feelings.
This book is unique in that it combines the intimate, personal tales of a single family with historical events. The rich historical background paired with first-person accounts provides a novel viewpoint on African American life. The classic historical story takes on a new dimension with the emphasis on women's experiences across generations.
Later that same summer, Saree had some private words with Hellene. The two walked to the huge split tree on the land Lurell Ann passed to Hellene, when she died. Saree brushed away the fallen leaves from Paula, Lurell and John Robert Dixon’s carved gravestones and placed fresh flowers in the holder for each. She held Hellene’s hand as they walked to sit under the gazebo built next to it. Then she shared a few unknown secrets.
“Hellene, I’m a tell ya some things, ya need ta know and not share it. Well… I know you and my daughter as close so if ya want to talk to Sanaya make sure she keeps it private.”
Hellene nodded and was ready to hear more.
Waters writes in an exquisite yet approachable style that effectively captures historical places and nuanced emotions. Her ability to paint vivid pictures captures a wide range of situations, from the harsh realities of a slave plantation to the heated environments of civil rights marches. The text has a lyrical aspect that improves the storyline, and the discussions are genuine.
Every chapter of "Moments in Time" adds to the larger plot, which is a cleverly designed and carried out story arc. A coherent and captivating narrative arc spanning centuries is created by the characters' development and the way their stories unfold, which reflect the historical and cultural changes of the era.
More than just a historical book, "Moments in Time: A Lineage Saga" delves deeply into the human condition via the eyes of a family shaped by sorrow and victory. It is a must-read for anyone looking for a book that enlightens as much as it entertains because of its intricate story, well-developed characters, and moving insights into the African American experience.
“Moments in Time: A Lineage Saga” by O'Shan Waters receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from The Historical Fiction Company
Award:
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