Octavia E. Butler was one of the first Black women to write science fiction. Her novels weave together history, sci-fi, and more. Kindred, one of her first novels, originally published in 1979, is a brilliantly put-together book. Though it was written more than 40 years ago, the topics in the novel are still relevant today.
Kindred tells the story of Dana, an African American woman, who quite suddenly and randomly, ends up in a pre-Civil War era in Maryland. She saves a white boy from drowning and ends up back in the present just in time to save herself from being shot. After facing a number of other obstacles relating to that same boy, Dana begins to realize what is happening. Octavia E Butler does an incredible job putting together this novel, which expresses the horrors of the slavery era and connects the history to the present moment.