At a Barbados plantation in 1834, the master gathers his slaves together and announces that they have all been emancipated. Now they are to be his apprentices instead of slaves, although they must now work for him for another six years. Instead, Rachel decides to leave, searching for her five children who were sold away.

With endearing characters and an interesting dive into Caribbean history, River Sing Me Home is exactly what you want from historical fiction. Thanks to Rachel's search for her missing children, you get to see a gamut of outcomes for slave children sold away. Most importantly, River Sing Me Home is a reminder of the struggles Blacks dealt without even after the end of slavery, for oppression and racism don't disappear overnight.