Not With Silver is the story of three generations beginning with Abiola, son of an Ijebu woman of substance, in 1740 in Oyo, Nigeria - Book 1. It continues in 1758 in Virginia in Book 2- where Abiola's slave name is Cornelius and he manages to escape slavery with his family, to the North. Book 3 takes place back in Africa, in Sierra Leone, beginning in 1789 with his daughter, Epiphany, now taking centre-stage. It is a suitable novel to recognise, while African-American and African History is being celebrated across the Diaspora.
Bedford opens with the annual Ifo celebration in honour of the oracle, the mouthpiece of the gods. Lady Faloyan, an Ijebu woman, walks through the city and its triple circuit of walls three times the height of the tallest warrior to see her mother in law, the Princess Bolade. Her younger sister, Lady Monife, is wed to one of the sons and expecting a child any day. She finds her in the birthing room terrified she is dying, but Lady Faloyan turns the baby in the womb and teaches Alero, the maid, how to massage the muscles and instructs the older women in concocting a restorative broth. Her objective is to save her sister's baby from the plight of marriage to an old priest; she plots to wed the baby to Prince Labise who is among the eligible to succeed to the throne.
