Octavia E. Butler's historical science-fiction novel Kindred was first published in 1979. On her 26th birthday, African-American writer Dana is inexplicably plucked from her Los Angeles home in 1976 and thrust into early 19th-century Maryland. After saving the life of a young boy named Rufus, Dana seamlessly returns to the California home that she shares with her white husband, Kevin. Following the first incident, Dana and Kevin repeatedly bounce from the modern day West to various years in pre-Civil War South. All the while, Dana interacts with Rufus, the son of a plantation owner, and Alice, a slave; both are revealed to be her ancestors. Dana struggles to grapple with the abhorrent realities of slavery, including master-slave relationships, rape, illiteracy, broken families, and more. Yet, while trying to understand her family history and rid it of injustices, she threatens to eradicate her own existence in the future.
