The Girl with the Louding Voice

The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré is a coming-of-age story set in Nigeria. 

Adunni is fourteen. She lives in the village of Ikati. Her mother made her father promise to keep Adunni in school when she died. Her mother said that the more education you had the better your louding voice, your ability to speak up for yourself. 

Now her father has taken her out of school. There is no money to pay the fees. He cannot pay the rent for them and her two brothers. His solution is to marry Adunni to a man who can afford a good bride price. Adunni has no desire to get married. Her true love is learning. 

Any further details would necessarily include spoilers. Daré has written a heartwarming story set in a country rich and alive, but with a huge wealth gap. Though she has an arduous journey, Adunni is a beautiful character who could be many girls in Nigeria. She is always hopeful and that is what allows her to get where she wants to be. Read this wonderful story. 

Daré, Abi. (2020). The Girl With The Louding Voice. New York: Dutton.

Freshwater

Freshwater by Akwaeke Emezi is a fictionalized novel based on her life, a quasi-memoir, of living as a plural person.

Ada, born in southern Nigeria, is a trouble prone child due to the ogbanje or spirits to share her body. As is typical of Nigerian parents, Ada is sent abroad for college. She moves to United States.

At college a traumatic event leads to one of the ogbanje taking over Ada's body. Asughara protects Ada but also revels at having a physical body to do with as she pleases.

Written with lyrical prose this difficult tale is moving and beautiful. It is the story of loss and reconciliation, of heartbreak, and of merging the disparate parts into harmony. Emezi is a powerful writer who choses words carfully - resulting in sentences that stop your reading in its tracks so you can savor them. I will read everything they write.

Emezi, Akwaeke. (2018). Freshwater. New York: Grove Press.