Rachel
Rachel is a 40-year-old enslaved woman working on a sugarcane plantation in Providence, Barbados. When the novel commences, Rachel is among the many enslaved people listening to the big announcement from their master in 1934, which is about the end of slavery. However, the master reminds his enslaved people that the law requires them to work for him for six years before they fully secure their freedom.
Rachel is intrigued by the wave of freedom, and she decides to run away from the sugarcane plantation to search for her five surviving children, that were sold as slaves to different plantations in Barbados, Trinidad, and Tobago. The journey is dangerous, but Rachel takes the risk because of motherly love. Fortunately, at last, Rachel reunites with all her five children.
Master of Providence plantation
The master is the owner of the sugarcane plantation in Barbados, where Rachel is a slave. The master follows the decree of the Emancipation Act of 1934 and announces to his servants that they are no longer called slaves but will be referred to as apprentices. However, he reminds them that they are legally bound to work for him for six years before they fully get their freedom.
Nuno
Nuno is an Akawaio Indian orphan who joins Rachel in the search for her children. Nuno is also running for safety after the wave of the end of slavery starts to sweep the various plantations.
Nobody
Nobody is a seaman who joins Rachel and Grace to form a bigger team to cross the dangerous places to search for Micah. The journey is dangerous because the river is infested with man-eating crocodiles.
Mary Grace
Mary Grace is the first child Rachel manages to find. Mary Grace is a mute child but still strongly connected to her mother. Grace joins her mother to search for the rest of her siblings.
Micah
Micah is the first son Rachel reunites with after the uprising of British Guiana. Micah is happy to see his mother again, and he motivates her that they will continue the search to look for his other siblings.
Thomas Augustus
Thomas joins other slaves running away from the plantations to search for freedom. In the runaway, Thomas meets his mother and other siblings. The family now has one task, search for Mercy and Cherry.
Cherry Jane
Cherry is Rachael's daughter, sold as a slave to an upper-class white family. Jane is the most beautiful daughter, and she has progressed in life because she managed to get better privileges from her master. Later, Jane meets her mother after many years of separation.
Mercy
Mercy is the last surviving child that reunites with her mother, Rachel, and the four other siblings. Mercy is found in Trinidad plantations while carrying a pregnancy of an unknown man. Mercy joins her family, and she is overwhelmed with joy.
