Ness is sold to another master, while Sam is hanged. Ness, her husband Sam, and their infant son, Kojo, attempt to escape slavery, but while Kojo escapes, Ness and Sam are caught. In the American South, Esi’s daughter Ness has been enslaved since birth. Effia wears her stone on a necklace, and Esi loses hers in the Castle dungeon before being shipped away.Įffia’s son Quey is coerced into taking over a position of authority in procuring and trading captives, though he would prefer to live a different life with his childhood friend Cudjo.

Effia is married to an Englishman who is the governor in Cape Castle, the source of the slave trade in Ghana, while Esi is captured and shipped to America from that same castle. These two half-sisters grow up unaware of each other, finding out about one another’s existence only when they inherit a gold and black stone from Maame. She was raped by Cobbe Otcher and gave birth to Effia before fleeing deep into Asante territory, where she marries and gives birth to Esi. Homegoing begins with a fire set by Maame as she flees the Fante village where she was a captive slave. The ability to tell one’s own story emerges as an important theme as these characters each share their experience of slavery and its long aftermath.

With so many voices, a recurring message inherent in Gyasi’s storytelling is that there are few absolutes in life.

Her storytelling style relies on flashbacks, often jumping between the past and present to reveal details of each descendant’s life. Told in the third person, Gyasi’s narrative shifts from Africa to America and back again.

Homecoming yaa