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The main conflict in Chains is between Isabel, the young victim of slavery and oppression, and Madam Anne Lockton, her cruel oppressor. The protagonist, Isabel, yearns and fights for freedom from the first pages of the novel when she calls upon her deceased Momma to guide her and Pastor Weeks to support her claim that she and her sister Ruth should be rightfully freed. At first, Robert Finch and the pastor are the antagonists, but they only fill that role until the Locktons arrive in Chapter III. When the Locktons buy Isabel and Ruth, the main plot line is set into motion, and this line dominates the action until the closing chapter.

There are several turning points before the climax. Isabel’s branding in Chapter XXIII is the first. As the iron touches her cheek, her spirit is badly damaged, but as she recovers, her resolve is forged by the horror of the scene and the pain it causes. Another pivotal point is Ruth’s disappearance because it deepens the conflict between Isabel and Madam. A third is Curzon’s imprisonment because it sets up the final movement of the novel: Isabel’s active engagement with the imprisoned rebels, which culminates in the novel’s climax, the final confrontation between Isabel and Madam. In this scene, Madam strikes her for the last time, reveals Ruth’s whereabouts, and locks Isabel in the potato bin while Madam goes to the queen’s ball.

Isabel once again seems imprisoned in despair, but she escapes, not only from the basement but also from Madam. Isabel commits fully to this action, and her resolve proves enough. First, Isabel breaks the wooden planks of the bin and runs upstairs to an empty house. Then she renames herself. Next, Isabel makes a final peace with Lady Seymour, and finally, she runs. This time, Isabel is truly free, even though she has one more hurdle to cross. She must fetch Curzon, an act that solidifies their friendship, and she must find her way past the British soldiers. With the aid of the fireworks and her Momma’s strength, Isabel achieves this last victory. Still, she must endure the freezing pain of rowing across the river, but this last heroic act is more denouement than climax.

Although the main conflict appears to be decided, the ending of this novel is anything but resolved. Since this story is the first novel in the Seeds of America trilogy, the narrative ends somewhat open-endedly, with Isabel and Curzon embarking on what will likely be a very long journey. Chains was published in 2008. The second novel, Forge, published in 2010, tells the story of a Valley Forge winter, and the story is told from Curzon’s perspective. In the third novel, Ashes, published in 2016, Isabel and Curzon make it to Virginia, where they find Ruth and some surprises and continue to be challenged by the Revolutionary War.

Anderson opens each chapter in Chains with a quotation from a primary source of the time, written by a variety of people: patriots, slaves, loyalists, governors, generals, slave owners, abolitionists, Phyllis Wheatley, John and Abagail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and even a newspaper advertisement for a runaway slave. Although the novel is fiction, the quotations ground it in historical reality. A few characters were real people, such as General Washington, Thomas Hinkley, and David Matthews, the mayor of New York. Many of the events are also real, such as the toppling of King George’s statue, the Great Fire of New York, and the queen’s Birthday Ball. Although Anderson invents, she also tells a story that is “true,” the mark of a great work of historical fiction.

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