Breaking the Maafa Chain

Author: Anni Domingo Series: Jacaranda

Hardcover

Salimatu and her sister Fatmata are captured, sold to slavers, renamed and split apart. Now Sarah and Faith, will these once inseparable sisters survive the traumas of their enslavement without each other? Or are the burdens of the wicked systems of slavery too much for their young hearts to bear?

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Summary

Description

Breaking the Maafa Chain chronicles two sisters' struggle for true freedom in the mid-nineteenth century, when transporting slaves from Africa to America was an illegal but lucrative business

Nineteenth century-Two sisters, Fatmata and Salimatu, are captured and sold separately into slavery. Forced to change their names to Faith and Sarah, they end up in two different countries with opposite slavery laws. Faith ends up in America, where slavery is still legal and slaves don't have any rights. Sarah ends up in a Victorian England and as the goddaughter of Queen Victoria. Can the two sisters reclaim their freedom and identity in a world that is trying to break them down and mold them to its coloniser's will?

Based on the true story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, Breaking the Maafa Chain will take the readers on a journey of loss, survival, hope, identity and tradition.

Critic Reviews

“Part fact, part fiction, Breaking the Maafa Chain is an important book, beautifully told. Domingo's premise is a bold and uncompromising one - taking what is known, the story of Salimatu, the 'black princess', Sarah Forbes Bonetta, and weaving through it the story of her fictionalised sister, Fatmata, Faith. Domingo makes an eloquent point: that although the sisters suffered different fates, both were unfree: Fatmata enslaved in North America and Salimatu gifted to Queen Victoria, and utterly at her whim. It is a story that has resonance today, where Meghan Markle was expected to shape herself to a white institution, to belong.”

Part fact, part fiction, Breaking the Maafa Chain is an important book, beautifully told. Domingo's premise is a bold and uncompromising one - taking what is known, the story of Salimatu, the 'black princess', Sarah Forbes Bonetta, and weaving through it the story of her fictionalised sister, Fatmata, Faith. Domingo makes an eloquent point: that although the sisters suffered different fates, both were unfree: Fatmata enslaved in North America and Salimatu gifted to Queen Victoria, and utterly at her whim.
It is a story that has resonance today, where Meghan Markle was expected to shape herself to a white institution, to belong.

Guinevere Glasfurd
The story of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, extraordinary even in extraordinary times, known to some in Sierra Leone , though virtually unknown elsewhere. Now Anni Domingo has brought her vividly to life in this richly imagined and compellingly told tale. Breaking the Maafa Chain is a gift to readers everywhere. Aminatta Forna
Anni Domingo's Breaking the Maafa Chain is so rich in detail and dialogue, it is simply seductive. She captures so well, a little girl, Salimatu, who recalls the security of her family life, who is transported to a bewildering future in England to become Sarah, where she has to stand strong and survive. Not only will this book be read for the sheer enjoyment of a beautifully written novel, but for the learning gained. It is a historical novel that cannot be ignored. Kadija Sesay, Literary Activist, author of Irki
Anni Domingo brings great sensitivity to her fictionalised account of the remarkable young life of Sarah Forbes Bonetta, the 'African Princess', who became a god-daughter to Queen Victoria. The internal struggles of Salimatu (Sarah) are movingly explored as she struggles to remain true to her identity as an African after being taken from her homeland and brought to England as a gift from "the King of the Blacks to the Queen of the Whites." A comparable story is told of Salimatu's sister Fatmata (Faith) who is transported to the United States before emancipation. Carefully constructed with a keen eye for historical accuracy, Domingo reveals a compassionate and affectionate Queen Victoria who is devoted to her African god-daughter. This is also an epic story of two sisters who are separated towards the end of the transatlantic slave trade, but never forget each other. Stephen Bourne, author of War to Windrush and Evelyn Dove

About the Author

Anni Domingo is an Actress, Director and Writer, working in Radio, TV, Films and Theatre after training at Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama. She appeared in Inua Ellam's 'Three Sisters', a play set in Nigeria during the Biafran War, at the National Theatre (UK) and toured Robert Icke's 'The Doctor' to Australia early in 2020. She currently lectures Drama and Directing at St. Mary's University in Twickenham, Rose Bruford College of Speech and Drama, Students and at RADA. Anni's poems and short stories are published in various anthologies and her plays produced in the UK. An extract from her novel Breaking the Maafa Chain won the Myriad Editions First Novel competition in 2018 and is featured in the New Daughters of Africa (2019) anthology edited by Margaret Busby. Anni recently won a place at Hedgebrook Writers Retreat and Norwich National Writing Centre's 'Escalator' programme enabling her to start working on Ominira, her second novel. Her first novel, Breaking the Maafa Chain, is scheduled to be published in 2021 by Jacaranda.