Time's Memory

Amma is the creator god, the master of life and death, and he is worried. His people have always known how to take care of the spirits of the dead — the nyama — so that they don't become destructive forces among the living. But amid the chaos of the African slave trade and the brutality of American slavery, too many of his people are dying and their souls are being ignored in this new land. Amma sends a young man, Ekundayo, to a plantation in Virginia where he becomes a slave on the eve of the Civil War. Amma hopes that Ekundayo will be able to find a way to bring peace to the nyama before it is too late. But Ekundayo can see only sorrow in this land — sorrow in the ownership of people, in the slaves who have been separated from their children and spouses, in the restless spirits of the dead, and in his own forbidden relationship with his master's daughter.

How Ekundayo finds a way to bring peace to both the dead and the living makes this an unforgettable journey into the slave experience and Julius Lester's most powerful work to date.

"While supernatural spiritual threads often weave their way into tales of escape from slavery, including Lester's own recent The Old African, this book is notable for the way in which the author brings the godly to the human realm. Ekundayo (a nyama or 'soul') travels across the Middle Passage within the body of a 16-year-old captive. Lester makes the voyage plausible, as well as the nyama's subsequent release, because of the way he characterizes the slave ship's captain and the captain's circumstances (the spirit of his recently deceased wife plays a part, for instance). A breathtaking scene involving Lebe, the 'first hogan' (taking the form of a serpent), brings about Ekundayo's transformation into a human being. These otherworldly events set the stage for the nyama's subsequent journey from the captain's South Carolina home to a Virginia plantation, where, with the help of the god Amma, Ekundayo comes to rest within Nat, a slave in love with his master's daughter. Amma has explained to Ekundayo that 'The chalk-faced Soul Stealers... have released forces they have no knowledge of... Their ignorance and cruelty threaten the very fabric of creation.' The many captives' deaths have left the nyama 'without a place to be,' and Amma has entrusted Ekundayo with the job of figuring out how to give them a home. In an endnote Lester explains that some of the key elements of the tale derive from the Dogon religion, but readers will find Ekundayo's mission powerful even without that knowledge. All the characters here are fully formed, from Nat's father, with a hate so strong he becomes as violent as his oppressors, to the slave master plagued by guilt and his own forbidden love. Ultimately, this is a novel of healing, and a seeming culmination of Lester's scholarship and faith in humanity. Not to be missed. Ages 12-up." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

"In his powerful historical fiction, Lester often confronts the harsh realism of slavery and imagines the personal experiences of his own ancestors....Above all, the beautifully individualized characters reveal the lies of slavery." Booklist

In this powerful novel by National Book Award finalist Lester, Amma, the creator god, sends a young man to a plantation in Virginia where he becomes a slave on the eve of the Civil War. There, he is to find a way to bring peace to both the dead and the living. High school & older.

Julius Lester's award-winning books for older readers include To Be a Slave (Newbery Honor Book) and This Strange New Feeling (Coretta Scott King Honor Book). He is Professor at the University of Massachusetts.