It's 1964, and Cecily Bridge-Davis is an African-American college teacher who lives in Nashville, Tennessee with her husband Winston and young boys Jason and Lloyd.
When Cecily learns she's inherited sixty acres of Bridge family land near Charlottesville, Virginia, Cecily takes a trip to Virginia, with plans to sell the property. Upon arrival at the Bridge land, Cecily finds a compound with a number of homes, an old apple orchard, various outbuildings, animal pastures, and so on.
The original Bridge family house is a dilapidated structure containing decrepit furniture, a few family possessions.....
.....and a carefully preserved Bible whose flyleaf contains a family history from the 1760s to the 1920s. The Bible also holds a map of the Bridge property, with X's marked here and there.
Inspired by the family Bible, Cecily decides to research her ancestry using the local library; newspaper archives; and family papers. Cecily also examines the closest spot marked by an X, and there - buried near the bottom of a tree - Cecily finds a tote with necessities for survival: a flint and steel firemaking kit; a compass; mittens; a folding knife; desiccated hardtack (survival food); and a piece of paper listing the Bridge family rules.
The Bridge Family Rules read as follows:
* Never interfere with past events.
* Always carry your freedom papers. (Freedom papers were proof a Black person was free, and not a runaway slave.)
* Search for the survival packs in the orchard.
* Do not speak to strangers unless absolutely necessary.
To cut to the chase, Cecily discovers that the Bridge family has a unique 'curse.' In every family fathered by a Bridge man, one offspring falls back in time at some point, always by the age of twenty-seven. Thus 'survival packs' like the one described above have been stowed around the Bridge property for many decades, to help a time traveler survive the initial 'fall' - which always happens suddenly.
Thus a Bridge person could be sleeping in bed and all at once find herself/himself thrust into the past, laying on a cabin floor. A fallen person remains in the same spot, but at a different time in history.
As Cecily uncovers her family secrets she realizes she'll fall back in time, and since she's twenty-six, it will happen very soon. This means Cecily's husband and children wil be left behind, without her.
From here the book goes back and forth between the present and the past, where we meet many Bridge family members. From this point on the reader should pay VERY CAREFUL ATTENTION, because the story gets complicated, with people falling into each other's timelines. My brief summary will be chronological, though this isn't how events are presented in the book. I'm also going to be very circumspect, to avoid spoilers.
*****
⌛ 1758
In 1758, free Blacks live in Pocahontas Island, Virginia, the oldest free Black residential community in the United States.
A modern woman called Emily Bridge, who's studying to be a doctor, falls back to Pocahontas Island in 1758.
Emily has a rough go at first, but in time she's apprenticed to an elderly Black midwife, who functions as a 'doctor' in the Pocahontas Island community.
Emily's circumstances in 1758 are much different than her former life. "Six months ago, Emily had left Miner Hall [Dormitory] every morning to hurry across campus to her Embryology and Physiology lectures. Now she rose from a pallet on the dirt floor in front of a fireplace, her back stiff from sleeping on an unforgiving surface."
Emily eventually becomes a respected member of the Pocahontas Island community, and due to circumstances, she's a linchpin in the Bridge family saga.
*****
⌛ 1780
In 1780, a prospective bridegroom vanishes.
Sabrina Humbles (17) and her sister Addison (16) were 'adopted' into the Bridge family when they were little girls, and they became best friends with young Luke Bridge.
Now that the trio is approaching maturity, romance rears its head and a wedding is planned.
The bride's dress is being made, the wedding ceremony is being planned, and the nuptials are to take place in a few days. Then, as Sabrina and Addison are chatting with Luke, he suddenly vanishes.
Luke's family is distraught, and his fiancée is crushed. No one has any idea what happened to Luke, and everyone looks high and low for him. Meanwhile, we follow Luke into the past, where he becomes a slave; is freed; fights in the Revolutionary War; meets some of his uncles in the army (who don't recognize him); and has other odd time travel experiences.
After 22 years, Luke gets back to his family. The thing is, Luke is 22 years older, but for the family, it's been only a few days since Luke disappeared. (You can imagine the skeptical response of the family.)
*****
⌛ 1817
In 1817, several Bridges vanish in close succession.
Rebecca Raley-Bridge and Herbert Bridge have three children and are expecting a fourth. Rebecca is the teacher for children living on the Bridge compound, and her pupils include her son Jimmy, her daughter Annie, and various cousins, including two boys called Pete and Nelson.
Rebecca is giving a math lesson one day when Pete suddenly vanishes. Soon afterwards Nelson disappears, and then two more Bridges vanish. The extended Bridge family is aghast, grief-stricken, angry, suspicious, etc, and many family members blame Rebecca.....and even search her property.
One Bridge grandfather knows what's happening, but he keeps mum.
However, Rebecca senses Grandpa knows something and she confronts him. Grandpa admits he fell and so did his mother, and he recalls, "Mama told me we must never forget the stories. Folks won't believe us, but we must never forget those who fell from time and those left behind to remember. She also said the Bridges will come to learn one child in EACH FAMILY will be lost if they are born from a Bridge man. After the child falls, their brothers and sisters'll be safe."
*****
⌛ 1919
In 1919, two Bridge family members are prepared for the curse.
Amelia Bridge (16) and her brother Isaiah (23) know one of them will fall and they ALWAYS carry a pack with supplies and their freedom papers.
Each sibling knows they'll be safe if the other vanishes first, and they tussle over who should disappear.....though it's not in their control.
The siblings don't know it yet, but both of them will fall back in time, for reasons to be revealed.
*****
⌛ 1924
In 1924, Cecily Bridge-Davis (who lived in 1964 at the beginning of the book) has fallen back to this time period. In a roundabout way, Cecily may be able to tweak Bridge family history and prevent a massacre. The terrible incident occurs in 1938, when a time traveler called Owen Bridge kills twelve Bridge family members and kidnaps a child. A slight change in history (though HIGHLY frowned upon) might derail this tragedy.
****
As the main protagonists go through their lives, we learn something about the ambiance of different time periods. For instance in 1964, Cecily Bridge-Davis's pastor talks about the Supreme Court ruling that bans separate but equal public schools; the pastor also encourages his congregants to protest the Jim Crow laws. Later, Cecily celebrates the 1964 signing of the Civil Rights Act.
All this changes drastically when Cecily is thrust back to 1924, when Black rights weren't even on the radar.
In the century before, in the 1800s, prosperous Blacks looked down on Black slaves and on dark-skinned Blacks who worked in their homes. In fact, well-off Blacks would look the other way when passing slaves in the street, not even offering a nod - perhaps because it pained them to see people treated as chattel.
Like many families, the Bridge clan clashed at times, but helped each other when there was a need, bringing food, chopping wood, fetching water, watching each other's children, etc. And Bridge individuals 'in the know' were helpful when they encountered a bewildered time traveler who suddenly arrived in their midst.
I found the novel a little confusing because of the abundance of characters, and the jumping around in time. However, the protagonists are s0 well crafted and the story is so engaging, I enjoyed the book anyway and would recommend it.
Thanks to Netgalley, Shawntelle Madison, and Amistad for a copy of the novel.
Rating: 3.5 stars
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