Thomas Pringle writes that Mary Prince herself conceived the idea of composing her narrative to inform English readers about slavery.

Mary Prince is born enslaved on a farm in Bermuda and sold as an infant alongside her mother.

Prince's mother takes Prince and her sisters to a market, where they are sold to separate enslavers.

Captain I– flogs the pregnant enslaved woman Hetty so brutally that she has a stillbirth and dies.

Prince is shipped by sloop to Turk's Island, where she begins grueling labor collecting salt in painful salt ponds.

After years working the salt ponds, Prince finally leaves Turk's Island when Mr. D– retires and moves to Bermuda.

Prince begs Mr. D– to allow her to travel to Antigua with Mr. Wood, and he agrees.

Prince falls severely ill with rheumatism in Antigua and is bedridden for months in a rundown outhouse.

Prince attends a Methodist prayer meeting at Christmastime and is moved to join the Moravian church.

Prince and free Black man Daniel James meet at the Moravian church and marry, enraging the Woods.

Prince saves enough money to purchase her own freedom, but the Woods refuse to allow the transaction.

The Woods bring Prince to England, where her illness worsens and they repeatedly threaten to expel her.

Prince leaves the Woods' household for good and seeks refuge with Moravian missionaries.

Thomas Pringle accompanies Prince to solicitor George Stephen to formally document her case for legal freedom.

Louis Asa-Asa closes the book's composite narrative by appealing to the king of England to abolish slavery.

Mary Prince is born enslaved in Bermuda and sold away from her first family as a child, experiencing early losses that foreshadow the deeper suffering ahead. She endures brutal abuse under successive enslavers, including years of crippling labor in Turk's Island's salt ponds that permanently damages her health. In Antigua, Prince finds spiritual refuge in the Moravian church and marries free Black man Daniel James, though her enslaver blocks every attempt she makes to buy her own freedom. The Woods bring her to England, where her failing health and their mounting cruelty finally drive her to leave their household entirely. Thomas Pringle helps her document her case legally, but Mr. Wood refuses to grant manumission, leaving Prince legally free in England yet trapped from her husband in Antigua. The book closes with Louis Asa-Asa's appeal to the king of England, uniting both narratives in a single urgent call for abolition.

Mary Prince's journey from birth through enslavement to her fight for legal freedom.

At Mrs. Pruden's household, a young girl named Fanny teaches Prince her letters and small words after their own lessons.

Mrs. Williams dies, and Captain Williams decides to sell Prince to raise money for his remarriage.

Prince is sold to Captain I– and his stern wife and arrives at their harsh household.

Prince is beaten severely by both Captain I– and his wife after accidentally breaking a large clay jar.

Mr. D– beats the injured enslaved man Old Daniel and pours salt directly into his open wounds.

Mr. D–'s son Dickey beats an elderly enslaved woman named Sarah and throws her into prickly-pear bushes; she dies shortly after.

Prince's mother arrives at Turk's Island to visit, but her mental state has severely deteriorated.

Mr. D– gets drunk in Bermuda and beats his daughter; Prince intervenes and is beaten instead.

After approving of Prince's work in Antigua, Mrs. Wood formally purchases her as an enslaved person.

A woman named Martha Wilcox is hired and repeatedly complains about Prince to Mrs. Wood, worsening Prince's treatment.

Mr. Wood twice refuses to sell Prince to buyers she herself arranged, trapping her further in his household.

While the Woods travel, Prince earns money by washing for ships' captains and selling them goods.

The Woods discover Prince's marriage to Daniel James and flog her as punishment.

Prince finds respectful employment with a woman named Mrs. Forsyth, who is accustomed to and genuinely likes Black people.

Abolitionist George Stephen intercepts a French ship carrying Louis Asa-Asa and four other Africans in London and claims habeas corpus to free them.

While Prince's main arc is shaped by repeated sales and new enslavers, the secondary events of her story reveal the specific cruelties and quiet acts of endurance that defined her life at every stage. From learning her first letters with a white girl named Fanny to witnessing Mr. D–'s son beat an elderly enslaved woman to death in the Turk's Island salt fields, Prince's world is filled with suffering that extends far beyond her own body. In Antigua she is formally purchased by Mrs. Wood and then controlled even more tightly when a new hire and Prince's own expressed frustration are used against her. Prince finds small victories in earning money from ships' captains and building a life with Daniel James, only to be flogged for that very marriage. After leaving the Woods she finds dignity working for Mrs. Forsyth before eventually settling with the Pringles. The pool closes with George Stephen freeing Asa-Asa and companions from a French ship, connecting Prince's story to the wider machinery of the transatlantic slave trade.

Secondary scenes of abuse, small resistances, and survival across Prince's enslavement.

Prince is forced to leave Betsey Williams and the family she loves to go serve at Mrs. Pruden's household.

On Prince's very first night at Captain I–'s house, she witnesses him whip the enslaved woman Hetty brutally.

An earthquake strikes while Captain I– and his wife are beating Prince, allowing her to crawl away.

After being kicked and beaten by Captain I–, Prince flees and hides at her mother's home.

Prince's father discovers her hiding at her mother's home and forces her to return to Captain I–.

Prince is sold to Mr. D– and finally leaves Captain I–'s brutal household after years of severe abuse.

An enslaved man named Ben is locked up without food and then hung by his hands and beaten for taking rice to eat.

Mr. D– forces Prince to bathe him regularly, something she finds deeply indecent and hateful.

A neighbor named Mrs. Greene and an older enslaved woman come to care for the bedridden Prince when the Woods largely neglect her.

Prince expresses her frustration to Mrs. Wood, and Mr. Wood responds by telling Prince to find a new owner.

The Anti-Slavery Committee reviews Prince's case but finds no legal path to secure her freedom in Antigua.

Mr. Wood falsely tells Daniel James that Prince has taken a new husband and forces James off his property.

Pringle systematically refutes every false accusation Wood made against Prince in a detailed numbered rebuttal addressed to the public.

The Adinyé people attack a second time, capturing Asa-Asa and separating him permanently from his fleeing family.

Asa-Asa and the remaining captives are chained below deck on a French ship in hot, crowded, filthy conditions.

The turning points in Prince's narrative expose how each stage of her enslavement forced her into impossible situations where she had no good options. From being torn away from the only family she knew as a child to witnessing Hetty's whipping on her very first night at Captain I–'s house, Prince learns quickly that survival depends on endurance rather than agency. Even her small acts of resistance—fleeing to her mother's house, voicing frustration to Mrs. Wood—are swiftly punished and reversed by those who hold power over her. Milestones of self-determination, such as earning money and choosing her own husband, are met with flogging and flat refusal, while the legal system offers no clear path to freedom in Antigua. Pringle's point-by-point rebuttal of Wood's accusations marks the narrative's shift from personal testimony to public legal argument, framing Prince's individual suffering as evidence for abolition. The pool closes with Asa-Asa's capture in Africa and his harrowing crossing, showing that Prince's story is part of a vast, violent system stretching from the African continent to the Caribbean.

Key decisions, forced choices, and revelations that drive the narrative forward.