Chains is based on a girl called Isabel. She has a younger sister that she looks after. They are slaves in America and religious people. This book is about a fight – a fight for freedom. Isabel along with her younger sister ends up being sold in an auction to a downtown New York couple, the Loctons. Isabel is a rebellious figure and wants her freedom She demands this so badly because she should have been freed legally earlier on when a person who was their kind owner made a statement in her will saying that they would be freed. Unfortunately for them the lawyer is out of town and the notorious Mr Robert and the Pastor decide that the two slaves are not to be freed and they will sell them for a profit. Mrs Locton is determined to break Isabel’s spirit. She commits an unthinkable act of cruelty, one that will ensure Isabel embarks on the biggest and most perilous journey of her life.

The novel is set back in1776 in the time of the American revolutionary war. The novel is a slash of harsh reality that really takes an aspect of the time in America back then.

The book does deserve credit for its reality and emphasis on time back then, but unfortunately it is a drag and not very interesting. The book is set in the first person, Isabel is telling the story almost like a diary.

Isabel is a rebellious character. She wants her freedom: in this book that is her life’s ambition. She does in a way sound like a mother in some points where she always wants the best for her and her sister. She is sure she knows what’s best and always fights for it even when she has no chance of winning.

Near the beginning of the book, she is in an argument with the pastor, about Mrs Finch letting her free after she died. She tries to keep the argument going but just gets threatened by punishment

I liked Isabel as a person in the book and enjoyed reading her feisty attitude. This unfortunately was spoilt by the plot and overall story of the book