Her mother, Maame, took one of these prisoners as a house girl, but the girl ( Abronoma) was not very skilled at housework and was often beaten. The Asantes had been raiding other villages for years, capturing prisoners and taking them as slaves and servants. Esi was born in Asanteland to a respected warrior, Kwame Asare. Soldiers come and go, groping the women and taking away their children. Meanwhile, Esi is trapped in the women’s dungeon in the Cape Coast Castle. The black stone from Baaba is really from Maame. Her real mother, Maame, had been a house girl for Cobbe, and ran away the night Effia was born. When Effia is at her father’s deathbed, her brother, Fiifi, reveals that she is not actually Baaba’s daughter. Though she is horrified, she knows she cannot go back to her village, and only returns years later when she hears her father is dying. However, she quickly discovers that there are women in the dungeons being traded as slaves. Effia and James Collins are then married and develop sincere affection for each other when she moves into the Castle. Before Effia is married, Baaba gives her a black stone pendant-a piece of her mother.

She tells Effia to hide her blood, and then contrives to have her marry a British man named James Collins who is the newly appointed governor of the Cape Coast Castle.

She hopes to marry the next chief of the village, but Baaba has other plans for her. When Effia turns twelve, she begins to blossom into a young woman. As she grows up, her mother, Baaba, is cruel to her and abuses her, while her father, Cobbe, is kind. Effia is born on the night of a raging fire in Fanteland.

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