"Bloodlines is about how each generation attempts to shed the slavery of the past.

Moving from the American Civil War to the present day, it follows the lives of five characters: Tom and Stella, runaway slaves who are now themselves part of the Underground Railroad that helps slaves escape; Faith, a black slave; her white lover Christy; and their son - our narrator - who knows neither of his parents because, by the time he is born, Faith has been sold back into slavery and dies in childbirth, while Christy has been indentured as a boxer to a travelling fair.

Cursed by the thwarted love of his parents, he is condemned to immortality until the races become equal and he speaks to us, from our own age, of his quest for freedom."--BOOK JACKET.