Genre: Fiction
Themes: Nigeria, child brides, modern day slavery
My rating (out of 5): ❤❤❤
This book is written in the style of speaking used by fourteen year old Adunni who is a girl bought up in rural Nigeria, far away from modern comforts that might be found a city such as Lagos. Her words are simple, yet powerful in the descriptions of what she sees and feels.
'I rub my chest where too many questions is causing a sore, climb to my feets with a sigh and walk to the window. Outside, the moon is red, hanging too low the sky, be as if God pluck out his angry eye and throw it inside our compound.'
Adunni lives in poverty with her Papa and two brothers and every day is a struggle for survival since her mother died. Her mother was the main source of income for the family and she made whatever money she could by frying and selling 'puffs' at the roadside. Without her income, Adunni's father has fallen into debt, and has to look for other ways of paying off the money he owes for the rent before the family are evicted from their home. His best solution for getting the money quickly is to arrange a marriage between Adunni and a local taxi diver, who already has two wives, and is considerably older than she is. Adunni is under the legal age for marriage but in rural areas it is still common for girls to be forced into marriage and start having children at fourteen.
The story goes on to describe how Adunni has to try and make a life for herself in her new home where she is badly treated by the first wife, but finds a friend in the second wife, who is not a lot older than she is, but is already expecting her fourth child. All the wives are expected to do as they are told by their husband and it is impossible to return to their own villages after a bride price has been paid as it would bring great shame to their families.
Adunni's story is also a mechanism for highlighting the experience of many young women in Nigeria who are caught up in a society that is starting to have access to modern technology and affluence, but still retains many of the old customs based on superstition and religious rituals. It is shocking to realise that so many women are still treated with such cruelty in this modern age through beatings and modern slavery.
I think this is an important book, as it raises awareness of practices that should be rooted out from any society, and those of us in first world countries have little understanding of the suffering that is endured in poorer communities around the world. It is a debut novel for Abi Dare, and has received much praise, but I can't say that I really loved it. However, I do think she is a writer to watch as she hones her skill and I would certainly be interested to read her two later novels.
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