Kindred - Octavia Butler

Kindred is unlike anything I have read before. Set in the 1970s, it is the tale of a modern Black woman living in California who suddenly begins to experience involuntary time travel episodes to antebellum Maryland. Each time Dana is transported to the past, she arrives at a moment of extreme peril for a young plantation owner's son named Rufus Weylin. Repeatedly saving Rufus' life leads them to develop an unlikely bond, but as Rufus gets older and takes over running the plantation (and its many slaves), and as Dana gets sucked into the past for longer and longer stays, she learns first-hand the ugly realities of slavery and the complexity of the relationships it breeds. A truly remarkable and original tale, offering a very compelling first-person account of a cruel and strange time in American history. Powerful and a must-read, in my opinion.