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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?
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.
Summary
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?
Foreword
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?
Additional text
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.
