Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

I bought this book in June when I first discovered the author and wanted to read all his work after reading That Reminds Me. Between moving to another city for a new job and preparing for the #ShortStorySeptember series, I’ve only had enough time (and headspace, if I’m being honest) for quick reads, so I’m starting with the shortest of the three I added to my list. Hopefully, I get to the other two soon.

Ray wants the perfect body with 1% fat. What starts as avoiding ultra-processed foods, counting calories, and training his body to ignore cravings ultimately spirals out of control as he obsesses more and more over his body goals. The first thing I did when I finished this book was check if it was a true story. Although it’s fictional, it’s quite relatable, and you can see how Ray went from wanting a healthier lifestyle to obsessing over his body and the complications that followed.

“Anyway, now I’m trying to lose as much fat as possible. I’ll lose muscle too, but once I’m down to about one per cent body fat, I’m going to build pure muscle and maintain that body ft percentage as I get bigger.”

The story is divided into two parts, and in the second part we see Ray go from 140 lbs (63.5 kg) to 80 lbs (36 kg). As I saw his weight drop at the beginning of every chapter, I said to myself that there was no way the story was ending well. Coupled with him weighing himself every morning, I was convinced he was also losing his mind. Convinced that he knew what to do to achieve his goals, he stopped going to the gym and focused solely on his diet, but the culture was already ingrained.

“That’s another thing that’s hard about dropping weight. You’re always tired, fam. Like, not even in a yawning lemme-go-find-my-bed kinda way. In a I-feel-like-I’m-gonna-drop-dead-any-minute kind of way. I felt like a zombie, fam, it was nuts. Then I’d eat and feel lively for about two hours until I felt hungry again.”

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About halfway through the book, we see how Ray’s body image issues started (I have done all I can not to launch into a tirade about the role of parents in children’s body image and self-esteem today). Whenever his weight went up, he fasted (more like starved himself for days). Over time, he devised a means that, according to him, got him the nutrients without the calories. It hurt his stomach (and overall health) even more, but he didn’t care; the goal was the goal.

“See this bit of fat here on my waist?’ I pinched it with four fingers on the bottom and my thumb on top. ‘You see all this, I didn’t even clock it was there when I was young. My dad grabbed it and showed me one time. He grabbed his own bit of wrinkly flab too, so I didn’t feel bad about it. I’ll never forget that. It looked like the fat on his body was being held like water in some crumpled black plastic bag or something. But yeah, he said I’m too young for it. For that kinda fat, I mean. I’m glad he showed me, though, because that’s the hardest part of body fat to lose. It’s better you’re aware because you gotta put in bare work.”

When his girlfriend, Temi, broke up with him, saying she wanted him to get better, he couldn’t see what she meant. Ray ignored the signs of his failing body—constant tiredness, stomach ache, and shaking with hunger—until it was too late and he needed gallbladder surgery. Even after that, he couldn’t wait to continue.

“My body must have clocked the lie because my abs started hurting again. When I got to like 110lbs, the pain was basically permanent. But I was firming it, folding my body when I could. Because I knew if I went to see my GP or something they’d chat shit about what I was trying to achieve.”

As you would expect, Ray suffers irreversible consequences of pushing his body too hard. His friends and co-workers were there for him, but there was only so much they could do, seeing how determined Ray was to build his dream body.

“I never thought it would be painful just to walk. It wasn’t even the tiredness. I could actually feel the bones in my feet when I was walking so I had to be bare careful.”

I enjoyed reading this book because it’s written in a delicate conversational tone. It feels like the narrator is sitting with you and you’re having a chat, but that does not make light of the serious issues discussed. The main themes are body image and mental health (as the author is well-known for), but it also touches on Illeism and autofiction, which I had never heard about. I love when books unexpectedly teach you new things like that. It’s a 5-star read for me and I highly recommend it.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, please tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

What I’ve Been Reading
The Woman Next Door by Louise Jensen | Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah | The Gift by Freida McFadden | Current read: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke

“But what remains of life after twenty years spent in a cement chamber? Twenty years swallowed up by the cold walls and the echo of slamming prison doors.”

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.

Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.
Today’s newsletter is a guest feature by Adedoyin, a writer and lover of all things art, literature, music, paintings, and movies. You can mostly find him reading, writing, or daydreaming about the Corleone family. He’s addicted to cakes, books, and suits. He writes from Lagos and tweets @AjayiAdedoyin14.

Marouazi tells this story in two parts, from the first-person perspectives of Mouline and Leila, two political prisoners jailed for their involvement in pro-democracy movements. Set in Gharbia, Morocco, the novel unravels the dark epoch of the country’s history by crafting a narrative–albeit fictional–around life in Morocco during the 1960s and 1980s, termed “The Years of Lead.”

A significant part of this narrative captures life within a prison. The story is told in a non-linear manner, alternating between Mouline and Leila’s present and past lives, and those of their friends and fellow inmates (Khalid, Abid, Salah, Souad, and many others), and how they adapt to imprisonment. A notable aspect is the use of language for both comfort and resistance. Mouline and his comrades use language to find some measure of comfort in prison, while also taking solace in refusing to be subjugated through writing.

The resilience of the human spirit is a striking thread in the novel, with inmates grasping at whatever pleasures they can. The birth of a baby is celebrated when Salah and Souad’s baby is born within the prison walls after the meticulous planning of their fellow inmates. This is a heartwarming testament to the fortitude to live with as much semblance of normalcy as possible in prison. The inmates also go on a hunger strike to protest their inhumane treatment. As Marouazi’s characters struggle to maintain some semblance of normalcy, they do so with a resilience that speaks to togetherness and comradeship.

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Marouazi writes on dark themes with the confidence and boldness of a writer who can stare darkness fully in the face and scribble its horrors to life. She doesn’t hold back from the dehumanization that lurks behind a prison’s walls. She describes it in lurid detail; an unflinching manner that looks at rather than away from the brutality of prison life. She describes the inmates’ struggles with losing their human dignity. Leila’s torture towards the end of the novel is particularly visceral. She turns to imagery to describe the horrors of her torture, again reinforcing the use of language as a vehicle.

“I didn’t have anything at all. That’s how prison is. As soon as you’re thrown in, you feel a sharp pair of scissors cutting out a large part of your dignity. In fact, I felt that the prison machine was intent on humiliating us for the rest of our lives.”

This novel reminded me of stories set in prison like Helon Habila’s Waiting for an Angel and Stephen King’s famous novella, Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption. Particularly, a common thread in these works is the theme of hope and how inmates view it differently; whether as “a good thing…that never dies” (Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption) or a meal to be swallowed in small morsels, because “nothing kills as surely as too much hope” (Waiting for an Angel).

History of Ash is darkly beautiful, well-written, and its unflinching portrayal of dark themes makes it worthy of acclaim.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends.

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

I’ve had this book for about four years now. I’m not sure if it’s because I bought it on my old Kindle account (out of sight, out of mind maybe?) or because fantasy is not my usual genre that it took me so long to get to it. Anyway, it’s the fifth book I’m reading from my old stash, in my quest to read as many of the books I already have as possible by the end of the year. I’m genuinely curious to see how far I can go because I can’t seem to resist the temptation of buying new books or going to the library and returning with a book. Anyway, that’s enough rambling. Let’s get to it.

Binti accepted the admission and scholarship knowing she would be regarded as a betrayer for being the first of her people to leave her homeland. Being a master harmonizer—a mathematical genius capable of “treeing,” (a meditative state for solving complex equations), she had been trained by her father to take over his astrolabe shop. This was a source of controversy among her siblings when she told them about leaving to attend the university.

“We Himba don’t travel. We stay put. Our ancestral land is life; move away from it and you diminish. We even cover our bodies with it.”

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The Himba people are known for their exceptional mathematical skill, and Binti sets out with this gift, her edan (artefact), and a jar of otjize (a cosmetic paste made from butterfat and red earth) she’d made for the trip.

When the Meduse (alien jellyfish-like creatures) attack her transport ship and all the friends she had made on the ship are killed, Binti has to use her gift to save herself. She also discovers something new about herself that she uses to her advantage as she negotiates with their leader and spokesperson to find a way.

“They say when faced with a fight you cannot win, you can never predict what you will do next. But I’d always known I’d fight until I was killed.”

This novella is a deeply personal story about the cost of being the first of one’s kind to do something: leaving to grow and carrying the weight of what was left behind and what lies ahead. It’s a great read for lovers of fantasy and sci-fi.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

I found and read this book in January while compiling a list of romance books by African authors. It was a nice read, and it’s appropriate for young adults and conservative readers. It focuses on a minor character from Imperfect Arrangements.

Mercy’s best friend, Araba, is also Lucas’ political party leader’s niece. She had returned to Ghana from London after over a decade to contribute her skills and legal expertise to her uncle’s party campaign, but she had other personal reasons.

“‘I don’t want to hurt you, Mercy, but it’s not just…You know I wouldn’t risk our friendship if it wasn’t serious. We didn’t plan this–honestly. We, well, we just clicked.”

When Mercy confronts her husband, he shows no remorse. However, when she informs him about the evidence she has against him, and he realises how that would topple his public image, things take a different turn.

“Sweet, sweet Mercy, let’s not fight. I know you’re feeling upset right now, but you are my wife and we have a good life together. What matters now is that we continue to show the country what a happy, loving couple we are.”

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In a desperate attempt to regain control of her life, Mercy reaches out to an old friend, Max, a media personality known for airing his views against, and in some cases, exposing corruption in the country. He offers her a job, and that lifeline changes everything. However, Lucas’s ambitions and the risk to the happiness and safety of her son pose a threat to Mercy’s hopes for a new beginning.

This novella is a light, easy read if you’re looking for something to read in the evenings, during the weekend, or on your day off. Lucas is quite an annoying character, but we’ve all heard about one of such people, so you’ll be alright. Mercy was lucky to get a job through her friend, but it made no sense to quit working in the first place. Work part-time, start a business, anything, just don’t do nothing.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

What I’ve Been Reading
That Reminds Me by Derek Owusu | Conjure Women by Afia Atakora | A House Without Windows by Nadia Hashimi | Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi | My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney | Single Dads Club by Therese Beharrie

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

From the title of this book, you already know that there would be a lot of secrets. The story is told in three parts: the first two parts narrated by Akorfa and Selasi respectively in their POVs, and the third part in third person, giving an overall glimpse of both girls’ lives and how their relationship came to be as it was.

Both Akorfa and Selasi carried theirs into adulthood, unaware that the other person had suffered the same fate. When Selasi’s mother died while giving birth to her brother, her father refuses to take responsibility for her and ships her off to live with her grandmother in Ho. They talked on the phone and Selasi visited Akorfa in Accra but it wasn’t the same as when they lived close to each other.

During one of such visits, Akorfa noticed that Selasi had become withdrawn and seemed to be constantly angry. It didn’t help that Akorfa had done very well in their BECE exams and Selasi had failed. Akorfa’s father pulled some strings to get Selasi into the same school Akorfa was attending, and paid her fees, but that wasn’t enough for her.

“Akorfa’s refusal to see and care about the things that happened to me had become what I disliked most about her.”

Akorfa was in the science class while Selasi was in Home Economics and that further drove the girls apart. Selasi made her own friends and wanted nothing to do with Akorfa and hers. Although they spent the holidays together, they were practically strangers by the time they graduated. Akorfa went off to America to study medicine and Selasi returned to Ho to start her catering business.

“She’d endured a lot in her young life, but why had Mom and I become the permanent targets of her ire, regardless of the love we showed her?”

Akorfa’s mother had said to everyone who cared to listen since her daughter was little that she would be a doctor. In a nasty turn of events, Akorfa is pressured by her mother’s family not to speak up and in protest, she withdraws from the medicine program to study political science, to her mother’s utter dismay. Until she graduated, her mother kept asking her about going back to medicine.

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Years later, Selasi owns one of the most popular restaurants in Accra. She’s married with children and she’s put her past behind her best she could. A government official harasses one of her staff one fateful day and Selasi confronts him. In the choas that follows, her husband wants her to apologize to the official and when she refuses, everything comes tumbling down and out, including her best-kept secret.

“We are a family, and we never turn our backs on each other.”

As a Nigerian reading this book, one thing that was on my mind was that the culture of silence in the event of injustice carries through and many times, crimes that should be reported are treated as a ‘family matter’. Very little consideration is given to the person who’s silently carrying the weight of another person’s crimes.

I loved reading this book and I’d definitely read more of her work. The narration from each girl’s perspective gives readers different views of the same events without repitition, and each story is convincing enough to blur the lines between right and wrong, such that neither of them is a hero or a villain.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

The book begins with Jonasi’s funeral, with all the women and their children gathered to bid him farewell. The story then unfolds in reverse, told from the perspective of each of the four women, narrating how they all fell for Jonasi.

When you read Joyce’s account of how she and Jonasi had fallen in love as young adults, gotten married and had four children together, you’d think she was the love of his life, and he hers. However, when we meet Essie, the second wife Jonasi married shortly after Joyce, it’s no longer clear who Jonasi truly loved. My conclusion is that Jonasi only loved himself, but even that is debatable. He was quick to remind his wives that he owned them, “bought and paid for,” but still, they were not enough for him; he just had to chase all the women in Harare.

When Matipa walks into Jonasi’s life, Joyce is certain that it’s a fling that would blow over and Jonasi would return home to her. It was, after all, not the first time she had heard about his philandering ways. When Jonasi doesn’t, and instead asks for a divorce, Joyce resorts to desperate means to “keep her man.” Well, Matipa is also trying to keep her man and goes ahead to have children for Jonasi.

With Essie, Joyce was completely blindsided, but she still stayed with Jonasi. This makes me wonder about how she sees herself, but I digress not. Essie was the woman Jonasi fell in love with before he became successful, and in a twisted way, he felt he owed her marriage. Why Essie agreed to such a skewed arrangement where her husband only sent her money and visited whenever he wanted baffles me, but that’s just me. I’m not in love with the man. Or Zimbabwean. Worse still, she was convinced she had an equal claim to Jonasi as Joyce.

Lindani, on the other hand, was after the money. She didn’t pretend to love Jonasi, and I respect it. She saw him for the greedy, selfish prick he truly was. Even though she wanted marriage as some form of life insurance policy, she was happy to enjoy his money while she kept looking for her own man. Fictional character or not, I hate Jonasi and what he represents with a passion that can’t be put into words, so I’ll settle for him being on my list of worst characters, right on top of Eprahim from the The Middle Daughter.

When I read this book, I just kept saying ‘wow,’ and the story got worse with every chapter. Why were the women making such questionable decisions while the man in their lives was prancing around like he owned the earth? I give it to the author, though; she renders each woman with such complexity that readers could sympathise with them, even to the point of making excuses for the role they played in their suffering at Jonasi’s hands. Not me, though. Y’all be safe out there.

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Since the series was released on Netflix, I have seen many posts by/about people who now want to read the book. While the wider audience is a win for the author and the African literary community at large, I’ve been thinking about the possible compression, omissions, and even additions to a story when it’s adapted for cinema and television. There’s also the question of not bothering to read a book when you’ve watched the movie/series, since you already know how the story goes.

My husband and I have been watching adaptations of Harlan Coben’s books, and I haven’t considered reading any of the books. Same with Bridgerton, Virgin River, Sweet Magnolias, and others. That’s just me, though. My sister, on the other hand, would rather read a book before watching the series.

I want to know: is it one or the other for you, or would you read a book after watching the movie, or watch a movie after reading the book?

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

K’s story is told in fragments, tasking the reader with piecing them together to form the whole picture. He is both physically and mentally abused, the effects of which are visible well into his adulthood. The not-so-typical novel reads like a collection of poetic journal entries, and it’s divided into five sections: Awareness, Reflection, Change, Construction, and Acceptance, each one focusing on different phases of K’s life.

“A day came when I was able to open the fridge and take out the cheese, which first refused my knife, knowing the rules of the house, take two pieces of bread and create what was slowly becoming a delicacy. I took a bite and the static in my jaw shuddered through my body. I bent over the bin and spat out what I had desperately sought, realising getting what you want is not what you thought.”

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K learns to navigate the city and tries to make friends at school, but he soon realises that he needs more than that to survive his new life. He is faced with racism in its various forms, from being told his breath smells African, to a friend telling everyone in his class that he was poor after a visit to K’s house. His relationship with his mother was neither here nor there, and he only saw his father as a part-time parent. He didn’t understand why he first had other parents.

“…all I could think about was my friend who had lied–with words so sure, he restored a shadow, one that only seemed to be looking over me–and told me that every person had a dad; this was compounded by the lie that you can’t miss something you’ve never had.”

K begins to struggle with his mental health as he approaches adulthood, and even begins therapy for depression. During one of the sessions, the therapist asks him who taught him to hate himself—a question that made him leave, never to return.

“There were days when I'd fall asleep on my arm and wake up to see my wrist covered with the marks of a desperate escape, and I'd feel nauseous, struggling to understand my want of an exit.”

K’s story seemed to have been written for him by the social workers in the foster care system and the people who saw him and immediately put him in a box before he had a chance to say anything. In this book, K speaks up for himself, his narration deeply rooted in his Ghanaian heritage.

It is not an easy book to read, but it’s necessary. I hope you learn a thing or two. I only recently discovered the author, and I’d definitely read his other books.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. Thank you!

What I’ve Been Reading
Cell One by Leye Adenle | Black Moses by Alain Mabanckou | The Crash by Freida McFadden | Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry | Audiobooks by Jodi Picoult

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

I found this book last month during my research for books written by men to be featured this month of June. I consider it a great find because it provides useful insight into the life of an ordinary person, beyond what’s reported in the news about important moments in history. The protagonist narrates his tragic coming of age and how he navigates life during a pivotal time in Congo’s history, and readers are able to picture the events, seeing them from a young adult’s view.

When we meet Moses at the beginning of the book, he’s about thirteen years old, living in an orphanage in Loango. There are about three hundred children at this facility, who are taught, looked after and kept in line by a Director, ‘wardens’ who are relatives of the Director and a handful of other members of staff. There was also a priest from Zaire, Papa Moupelo, who visited them on Saturdays for a few hours to teach them songs and entertain them. His visit was what the children at the orphanage looked forward to the most, and first sign of the changes to come was that Papa Moupelo stopped visiting them, and there was no explanation.

Soon after, the Director announced there was a new government and the children had to obey the new rules, or they would be forced to do so. Religion was banned in all public institutions, including the orphanage, and the government declared that teaching Marxism-Leninism was the new priority. The children had to memorize the President’s speeches and the orphanage now hosted visitors pushing the new political agenda in the building that used to host the priest’s sessions with the children.

From children who didn’t know their parents, to those who caused their parents trouble, to girls abandoned because they were born first and it was considered to have a girl as a first child, the orphanage housed children from different tribes. It was acclaimed as a place for “correction and protection,” and the Director ran it with an iron fist. His relatives, who had no experience with children, treated the orphans terribly and often reminded them that if they tried to run away, they would be eaten by sharks in the ocean.

Among these children, were twins, Songi-Songi and Tala-Tala, who terrorized most of the children. After Moses exacts revenge on them for bullying Bonaventure, his best friend, they take him under their wing and he begins to do their bidding, much to his best friend’s dismay. Soon, they were able to convince him to aspire to a life outside the orphanage.

With the priest and Sabine, the woman who has looked after him and all the babies dropped off at the orphanage, gone, Moses decides to escape with the twins, unconcerned that he didn’t know any one or anything apart from what he had at the orphanage, where he had lived since he was only two months old. He was also leaving Bonaventure behind, as he could not convince him to come with them. Unlike Moses, Bonaventure knew his father and was convinced that he would come to the orphanage for him one day.

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The trio found their way to Pointe Noire and spent their days roaming the streets, stealing food and whatever else they could lay their hands on. They fought rival gangs and spent their nights sleeping in market stalls at first, and later, wherever the night found them. Moses earned himself the nickname, “Little Pepper” and was second-in-command to the twins who led a gang that all and sundry could join. He lived day-to-day with no direction, but still wanting more out of life. He had been living on the streets of Pointe Noire for nearly three years when he met a woman, offered to carry her bags, and she goes out of her way to help him, altering the course of his life (more like setting him on his destined path, actually).

In addition to giving me a good history lesson, this book made me think about the oriki names Yoruba people give their children. Names are like a prayer for what people hope a child would be and one too many times, I’ve seen people live out the meaning of their oriki. I often wonder the wisdom behind it, considering that these names are given only eight days after the child is born. Fascinating stuff.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. Thank you! See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
Welcome to June ☀️☀️☀️

I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

This is my first book by this author, and it was a great introduction to his work. I’ve had him on my list of authors to check out for some time now, and I’d definitely read more of his books. Crime fiction is one of the new genres I’m exploring this year, on my quest to read as many books as I can and discover more authors. Anyway, let’s get to this story of power, survival, and moral consequence.

Bobby reports to the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID) in Panti, Lagos, where he was to work as an Assistant Superintendent of Police in the Cybercrime Unit, to find that they have no job for him. He was to go to the police headquarters in Abuja to see the Commissioner of Police, but all that yielded was a letter to another police station with a small cybercrime unit that may have some work for him ‘in the meantime.’ This is a very Nigerian thing to happen, but I digress not.

When he gets to Bar Beach Police Station, Bobby is informed that a Chief Superintendent of Police, Oga Adams, as he was fondly called, was nowhere to be found. His wife had called one of the officers to ask about his whereabouts, as they had all attended the man’s promotion party at the Officers’ Mess the night before. Not wanting to deal with Bobby at that time, his boss, Superintendent Balogun, attaches Bobby to the team sent to Oga Adams’ house to speak to his wife and gather whatever information they could about the situation.

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At Oga Adams’ house, Bobby and another police officer, Abike, are talking to his wife and trying to find information online when a popular blog posts a headshot of CSP Adams in his full uniform, with his name and rank above the picture, and ‘12:00 West African Time’ and a timer counting down under it. At the appointed time, a broadcast showed the police officer tied to a chair in a dark room with an electronic voice asking him to confess his sins. Shortly afterwards, he was doused with water from an opening above his head. When the downpour stopped, the water on the floor of the room was about a foot high.

“Whoever was involved must have hacked the website long before, waiting till the time was right…They must have also planned when and where to abduct him. It had not been by chance. Just like the live broadcast, asking him to confess his sins, they’d chosen his promotion party for maximum effect. These were not random upstarts or ambitious criminals; whoever had pulled this off was professional, resourceful and dedicated to their cause.”

There are more broadcasts in the course of the day, and the level of water increases in each one. Despite being sent home by SP Balogun, Bobby works on his own speculations and forms some theories. Not knowing who to trust, Bobby decides to embark on a solo quest to uncover the truth before they run out of time.

“Every time I thought I’d understood how big this was, it kept getting bigger.”

If you’re looking for a quick evening or weekend read, I recommend this book. *Bobby Fatokun returns in Fall From Grace, scheduled for release in September.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Soraya conceals her ability to read, but she soon discovers that the house and its owner also have secrets of their own. What starts out as employment for a much needed role soon becomes entrapment and manipulation disguised as kindness. Published in 2025, it’s the author’s second novel.

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

Having left her last job abruptly due to advances from the man of the house, Soraya was excited to find a new job. An added advantage was that she wouldn’t have to travel far to work but she’s informed at the interview that she would be required to live on the property for most of the week. Left with no other choice, Soraya accepts the job and so begins a fraught double-edged relationship.

Mrs Hattingh has rules for everything and controls Soraya’s time at Heron Place with unending routines. The house had since lost its glory but she saddles her new maid with scrubbing, cleaning and dusting rooms no one slept in, ensuring that Soraya has no free time until she retires to her room at the back of the house at night. From her first day, Soraya realises that they were ghosts in the house.

The book is narrated by the protagonist, Soraya, who is unhappy at her new job where she’s only allowed to go home once a week, but her family needs the money. Her mother advises her not to complain, and that she should be grateful for the job. Her mother’s meagre wages barely supplement what little her father makes from his craft, so it falls to Soraya to support her parents and two younger siblings. It didn’t matter that all she wanted to do was work with her father.

“‘What you mean,’ Mama snaps, ‘is that you cannot bear to work. There is nothing wrong with Mrs Hattingh; your work is easy, light. Think on what it could be—a house full of children, men, demands. You are lazy.”

One day, Mrs Hattingh announces that she had received a letter from her son, Timothy, that he would be visiting. He had not been home since he fought in the Great War. Declaring that they have to prepare in earnest, she makes a long winding list of chores to be done before his arrival from London, even though it was months away. While they are getting ready for the golden visit, Mrs Hattingh offers to help Soraya write letters to her fiancé, Nour. They start having weekly meetings where Soraya dictates and Mrs. Hattingh writes the letters to be posted later. She also insists on reading Nour’s replies only during such meetings.

“Ever since Mrs Hattingh suggested the letters, my missing Nour, my longing for him, has deepened. It’s as though she’s shown me a door, told me about the riches that lie beyond it, opened it very slightly, enough for the warm gold glow behind it to spill out, just a little, with both of us knowing she can shut it whenever she likes.”

When Soraya discovers that her employer had been writing the letters in her own words (and adding to it), instead of what Soraya was dictating, and asked that Mrs Hattingh write exactly what she was saying, their relationship becomes further strained and things go awry. Soraya returns to Heron Place after one of her visits home to the news that she could no longer go home to visit her family, as she was needed to do more work ahead of her Timothy’s arrival. Not long after, the replies from Nour stop and Mrs Hattingh tells her there’s no point writing to him anymore. She also starts telling Soraya more about Timothy.

“So, I am at Heron Place, day and night. At first, I do not feel too bad. I busy myself with cleaning what remains of her silver, I shore up things to tell my family, I make secret notes on bits of paper I have collected to remind myself of what to say during the writing hour, I replay the memory of our kisses and hold myself tight as a happy heat spreads across my face and through me. I tell myself that a month is not so long. I tell myself to remain grateful for this job, for gratitude is the salve, gratitude is dignity, gratitude keeps me going. Gratitude keeps me staying.

On some of her errands, Soraya began to hear some gossip about Mrs Hattingh and the haunted house. Trapped with the ghosts and her controlling boss, Soraya misses important events at home until her brother comes looking for her. On her return, Mrs Hattingh informs her that she would not having people come calling for Soraya when she needed her. Soraya also discovers the real purpose of the letters Mrs Hattingh had been writing and sending to Nour, and everything that had happened became clear. That sends her spiralling and she plots her escape, her hidden ability to read being what saves her from her malevolent employer.

This novel is a story about domestic exploitation, colonisation and slavery. It’s a magnificent historical fiction carefully balanced with mysticism and psychicism. Gothic themes are not really my thing, but this book is so well-written and I wanted to see it through. Mrs Hattingh is such a complex character and I was proper stressed reading this book. She truly needed a maid, but it soon became clear that what she wanted with Soraya was a companion who had no life of their own and an audience for her performances.

“…half the mystery of life is not understanding how things come into being.”

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

What I’ve Been Reading
Binti by Nnedi Okorafor | The Housemaid’s Secret by Freida McFadden | Grace by Chika Unigwe | Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi | The Housemaid is Watching by Freida McFadden | Current Read: For Such A Time As This by Shani Akilah

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If I had read this book earlier, it would have made my last list. The story begins with Grace stuffing herself with some cake, a yearly penance on the anniversary of her firstborn’s birth. When I got the gist of the story, I was annoyed because it didn’t align with my stance that parents should help their children no matter the trouble, but as the story wore on, I realised that Grace’s parents did the best they thought they could. This does not make their decision any less cruel, but their choices were limited, and they picked the option they thought would give their daughter the best shot at life. They were convinced it was the only way to help her.

When Grace’s mother realised that her fifteen-year-old daughter was pregnant, she marched her to the boy’s house. His parents humiliated them, and the boy, Ben, wanted nothing to do with Grace. Keeping the baby was not an option. The pills Grace’s mother got her failed to abort the pregnancy, and the only thing left to do was to plan for the baby’s arrival in a way that didn’t soil the family name. Grace stopped going to school, and her mother told everyone who asked about her that she had a terrible case of typhoid fever.

“Grace could not bear to look at her father. She could not handle his silent accusation, his crying. She wished he would shout at her and beat her like her mother did, punish her in some way to reduce the guilt she was carrying.”

She was a curious teenager who didn’t have the right information. It was as an adult that she even realised that Ben had tricked her. I felt sorry for her because she was just a child. She had no business sneaking around with him, true, but with the right information, she would have been better able to protect herself. No topic should be taboo when it comes to raising children. There are age-appropriate ways for teaching them about sex, money, crime, self-esteem, etc.

Grace also didn’t have any friends, which is something I think her parents should have been concerned about. She was teased a lot for her size, which contributed to her poor self-esteem and made her easy prey because she wanted to be seen as happening. The first place children are validated is at home, and if that’s missing, nsogbu di. Also, children always find answers to their questions. It’s a cruel world, and it’s best that answers come from people who have their best interests at heart.

“Grace, raised to be timid, admired people who were not. People who could walk up to strangers at parties and start talking about anything. She had never in her life been the first to initiate a conversation. As a child, even before the secret she could not share, Grace spoke only when spoken to, the way good children were supposed to.

With her mother’s assistance, Grace delivered the baby on their kitchen floor, biting down on a chewing stick. Barely two days later, her mother told her to dump the baby. Left with no option as she had no means of caring for herself and the newborn outside of her parents, she did as she was told. She waited until late at night, bundled the baby up, and left her at a street corner, hoping no one would see her and praying someone would find the baby and look after her.

“Although they never spoke of it, there had been times, in the early days, when it appeared as if her parents—her father especially, who had resolutely kept away from any of the decisions—had been on the verge of asking, but they always hesistated, drew a curtain over it and talked about other things, mostly the things she had to do.”

Not long after, Grace and her parents moved to a new area, and she started at a new school. She eventually goes to nursing school, and when she graduates and can fend for herself, she cuts her parents off and asks them not to contact her ever again. She goes on to build a successful life for herself with her maternity clinic providing special services on the side. She was renowned for her discreet services and seemed to have the perfect life with her husband and twin daughters.

Still, Grace carried a burden too heavy for her, and it kept growing with the weight of the lies she told to keep the secret. She would not speak of her past, but it was front and center in her mind at all times, draining her and preventing her from living. Somehow, she could not find happiness in the life she had built and kept punishing herself. It was as if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop, and drop it did, even if it took so many years.

“Laughter spilled into her ears from beyond the walled fence surrounding the house. Grace envied the easy laughter. For twenty-six years, she had not laughed like that. There was always sadness trimming the edges of her laughter so that she couldn’t completely immerse herself in it.”

Grace gets home from work one evening to find her mother in her sitting room, talking to her husband, Okika. When she met him nineteen years before, she had told him her parents were dead. When Okika’s parents asked about her extended family so they could ask for her hand in marriage traditionally, she had insisted that she had no living relatives who could act in that capacity. Although they were unsettled, they could not stop their son from marrying Grace.

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Her mother's surfacing threatened to destroy everything she had carefully built over the past two decades, shaking it to its core. Grace’s mother started by saying Ben’s parents needed her forgiveness because they thought she had placed a curse on them. Ben could not have any children with his wife, and somehow, their fortune had changed. When Grace asks her mother to leave, she recites her new address and asks Grace to come and see her and her father sometime.

“But when it mattered, when she needed her, Grace thought, her mother had let her down. And now, when she had managed to kill her off, her mother had resurrected herself and come to spoil the life Grace had built for herself despite everything. What did she hope to achieve turning up like this?”

When Grace visits them, she learns the real reason her mother came looking for her that evening, and she faces some of the most important decisions she’s ever had to make. Around the same time, she’s contacted by her potential client, who forces her to reevaluate the work she had done over the years.

The central theme of this novella is grieving a life that could have been, and as such, being unable to see what’s right there. While Grace was justified in her anger towards her parents, Ben, and life in general, it sometimes felt like she wanted to stay angry. If she had kept Baby, she wouldn’t have had the life she had. There’s something to be said for the lies she had told over and over to anyone who asked, but she could at least have been honest with herself.

This book is not an easy read, and it poses questions to the readers that put them in each character’s shoes. I certainly could not have gone home pregnant at fifteen, or even at twenty-five, but times are different now. Grace’s friend, Ifeatu, asked her what she would do if one of her daughters came home pregnant, and that had me thinking about what I would do if I were in Grace’s mother’s shoes. The prayer is that we raise our children well enough to make the right decisions, but that’s not always the reality. The important thing is that they can come home.

“She had asked until Grace began to see that she was not that much different from her mother, that they were affected by the same society, the same rules that she, Grace, thought she had been breaking.”

I recently saw a TikTok of a woman yelling at her pregnant twelve-year-old and going on and on about her leaving her house. First, that shouldn’t be on the internet. Second, at the risk of being that person, did she give the child proper sex education and make space for her to tell her anything without fear of judgment? I think not. She complained about working and doing all she could for the girl, and while we may not have the full context, we can put the pieces together.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Many readers would agree that a lot of literary fiction, especially by African authors, is based on real-life stories and events. Parenting is an uphill task, and even within a community, it can feel like a lonely journey. In addition to religious texts and self-help books, parents and guardians can also learn from fiction.

The underlisted books are some of my recommendations for people raising little humans to learn a thing or two (or five). In some of these books, we can see the law of cause and effect at play, while in others, ripple effects and compounding results are apparent. Either way, most of them are stark examples of things not to do if the goal is to raise well-rounded members of society.

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1. Daughters Who Walk This Path by Yejide Kilanko | Full Review
   A poignant story set in Ibadan, around the 1970s, following young Morayo, whose life is altered when she’s raped by her cousin, leaving her with a burden she carries into a troubled adulthood. It also explores some Yoruba customs and traditions, mainly that of oppressive silence and keeping grievous crimes and issues under wraps, terming them ‘family matters’ in the name of protecting the family image.

2. Night Dancer by Chika Unigwe | Full Review
   The intriguing story of a young, vibrant woman, Ezi, who dared to defy customs and traditions after she was betrayed by her husband. Ezi is now dead and has left some letters for her daughter, Mma, who has to connect the dots backwards.

3. A Good Name by Yejide Kilanko | Full Review

   Almost-40-year-old Eziafa, after living abroad for over a decade, decides to go to his village to find a woman to marry. He wants someone he can mould to his taste and “make a name for himself.” Zina, the woman he chooses, is 18 at the time and out of duty to her family, abandons her dreams and agrees to marry him, unaware of what her new life abroad would entail.

4. Maame by Jessica George | Full Review
   Maddie is a 25-year-old self-acclaimed late bloomer and the primary caretaker for her sick father, living in London. Her mother spends half her time in Ghana, running the hostel her own father had left her and her brother. She works as a personal assistant and barely does anything outside of work. When her mum returns from her latest trip, Maddie gets a chance to move out, start living, and experience many firsts.

5. The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe | Full Review
   Seventeen-year-old Nani was deep in the throes of grief after her sister and father passed away when she fell into the hands of an unscrupulous man who paraded himself as a preacher. Ephraim wormed his way into Nani’s life and derailed the course of her life. Nani didn’t even like him, and she often made fun of his bad English. Things took a dark turn when he invited her for a church vigil, and she couldn’t return home afterwards. Nani gets pregnant, and for the fear of being judged by her mother, chooses to go to Ephraim for help.

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6. Tomorrow I Become A Woman by Aiwanose Odafen | Full Review
   During her final semester at the university, Uju meets Gozie at church, the best place to find a husband. Her friends had cajoled her to go with them, and she indulged them. It did not matter that he was ten years older than her and a tad controlling; her mother approved of him because he was Igbo, Catholic, and had a good job. Uju’s life as a married woman took a completely different course from anything she could have ever imagined.

7. No Be From Hia by Natahsa Omokhodion-Kalulu Banda | Full Review
   An intergenerational family drama following two cousins, Maggie in Zambia, and Bupe in England, but when Bupe moves from Brixton to Lusaka, she’s united with Maggie. As they get to know each other, they also discover their family history, betrayals, and tragedies. The story spans five decades and explores themes of identity, belonging, migration, and family ties.

8. Sins of The Fathers by Zukiswa Wanner | Full Review
   A short, poignant story narrated by a grief-stricken father who begins to question his role as a parent and his father’s part in shaping him. Akani had done all he could to avoid becoming the man who raised him, but had he by doing so, become that same man? In his identity crisis, Akani wrestles with different questions, chief among which is whether he had escaped his father’s influence or if his “sins” lived on in him.

9. Bitter Honey by Lola Akinmade
   On the biggest night of her career, Tina finds out that her father, whom her mother had said was dead, was alive and well. What follows is an emotional story moving between past and present, and the unraveling of secrets held over four decades. Her mother, Nancy, had done all she could to keep the past under wraps, but in a twisted turn of events, she became the villain.

10. Sweetness in the Skin by Ishi Robinson
    Pumkin Patterson’s dream is to leave Jamaica for a better life in France with her aunt Sophie. When Sophie leaves with a promise to send for her, Pumkin has to do her part, and the only way she can do that is by baking and selling sweet treats. Pumkin’s parents constantly acted like she was a burden, and the entire time, I was wondering why they bothered to have her in the first place.

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Set in the fictional African village of Kosawa, the novel chronicles a community’s decades-long struggle against the environmental ruin brought by Pexton, an American oil company. It is a story of pipeline spills rendering ancestral lands infertile and toxic water stealing the lives of the people. The novel serves as a microcosm for the devastating intersection of corporate greed, environmental collapse, and the enduring scars of colonialism.

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I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.

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Today’s newsletter is a guest feature by Sacchie, a Nigerian literary advocate, reviewer, and digital creator bridging the gap between brilliant authors and global audiences. An inaugurated member of PAYPA and a frequent collaborator with leading publishers, her influence sits at the heart of the industry. She hosts Between the Lines on X Spaces. It is a reader-centric series dedicated to dissecting stories and their underlying nuances. She is a passionate champion of African narratives across all genres, and is recognized for providing transparent, and deeply considered reviews that readers trust.

The opening lines of this novel set a tone that is as lyrical as it is devastating. Imbolo immediately introduces us to a collective “we,” a narrative choice that feels like a poignant echo of the African philosophy of Ubuntu—the belief that “I am because we are.” Whether intentional or not, this shifts the driving force of the book away from traditional plot beats and into the interior psychology of a community. Because of this, the multiple perspectives work beautifully as we witness the progress of a people’s collective thought.

While the voice is often collective, the character of Thula emerges as the closest thing the novel has to a protagonist. We witness her burgeoning intelligence as she grows from a child of Kosawa into a revolutionary. Through Thula, we see the evolution of the struggle, but the book’s exploration of patriarchal systems is also intentionally jarring. The rituals performed on her are insulting, stripping her of agency just because she is a woman. Even “the children” (the collective narrators) view her leadership as a mockery they must tolerate despite her sacrifice, highlighting the stubbornness of internal prejudices even in the face of external extinction.

This cultural backdrop is reinforced by the author’s prose, which maintains a culturally relevant abashedness. She skirts around subjects like sex with a restraint, dancing around them as if their names are forbidden. This feels deeply authentic to the era and environment she depicts.

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Perhaps the most provocative theme in this book is the necessity of violence. The people of Kosawa find that Pexton only begins to listen when the villagers resort to force, the only language an oppressor truly understands. Although Kosawa is fictional, it is far from imaginary; it stands in for any community where the Western colonial extractive mindset has taken root.

This novel is not without its flaws. Sometimes, the pacing is uneven, and the narrative feels repetitive as it spans several decades. Because Thula is often observed through the eyes of others rather than her own, she occasionally feels like a distant symbol rather than a flesh-and-blood person. Furthermore, as the story progresses, the narrative sometimes succumbs to the author’s desire to cover every political angle, causing it to stray from the main plot. In these moments, the story takes a polemical tone that feels a bit preachy compared to the restrained delivery of the earlier chapters.

Ultimately, however, you cannot help but admire the sheer talent and ambition Imbolo brings to the page. I consider this required reading for anyone interested in environmental literature, and it is a book I will always recommend. It demands you feel the characters’ exhaustion as your own, and it will leave you thinking long after the final page. How Beautiful We Were is a parable and a warning of what could be, ending on a haunting, open note: to fight, or not to fight.

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Published in 2019, it’s the author’s fifth book. It’s such a beautiful use of allegory, where the author uses magical realism to narrate the characters’ journey of self-discovery, transformation, and how to better manage the demands of their lives.

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Iman was a Syrian refugee who had lost everything and was far away from her family. She was with her third husband, who chased them down on their road trip to divorce her and give her all her belongings in his house. His excuse was that his parents didn’t approve, and he could not forgo his allowance from them. She was the most religious of the three women and the one who first encountered the Hoopoe, who told her different stories with guidance for her life and decisions.

“All in all there were twelve of them—boys and girls. Scattered now all over the place by the war and the ambition to live. Iman felt sorry for her mother, but her pity was tempered with anger. Anger at her and anger for her. If having all these children was an investment for old age, then it was an investment that had backfired.”

For Moni, a vacation was out of the ordinary, a luxury even. She was the primary carer for her son, Adam, who had special needs. Her husband, Murtada, had moved away for work and had been pressuring her to join him. She resented him deeply for being able to move on and have a life outside of her and Adam, whom she had given up her job at a top bank to care for. Moni had never left Adam, and the guilt of taking him to a nursing home for the few days she would be away sat with her throughout the journey.

“It was the children who caught her eye. A toddler held by a harness. Two little girls holding hands. Healthy, moving, standing, talking to their parents. They were the same age as Adam, but they had swept past him, developed and progressed. For Adam, time was different. For Adam, time did not bring news kills or better understanding. She had forgotten what was natural, forgotten what normal children were like, what they were capable of doing and saying outside the cocoon of Adam’s world.”

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Salma was the most successful of the trio. She worked as a massage therapist and was the organiser of the Muslim women's group in Aberdeen. She gave up her life and career as a doctor in Egypt to build one with David, her Scottish husband, and a convert. Salma has four children and struggles to remain relevant in their lives. Most of the time, in her English-speaking household, she feels like an outsider. During the trip, she flirts with Amir, her former love and the person she was supposed to marry back in Egypt. He had resurfaced and reached out to her on social media just before the trip, a stark reminder of the life she sacrificed.

“And Salma was the one with the Scottish husband, she was the one who must always be making the effort to belong. Digging deeper all the time, craving connections, self-conscious that her roots, despite the children, might not be strong enough.”

Away from the buzz of the city and the demands of their daily lives, the women experience spiritual freedom and surreal manifestations of the danger ahead. The consequences of their life choices take tangible shapes that guide and warn them. Each woman is at a crossroads, faced with choices they had made, the crises in their marriages, and the war within themselves.

They were women with wants, desires, hopes, and aspirations, but somehow, they had put everything else above themselves. They had let the demands of their faith and families weigh them down. The trip also tests their friendship, and they have to ask and answer difficult questions.

“They misunderstood their role. They underestimated their importance and exaggerated their shortcomings. They inflated their problems and followed their egos, counselled each other but rejected what was right. Their quarrels taking up space, their connections weakening. And now they were far away, deep in the realm of consequence.”

This book is not your regular read; it poses questions for deep reflection to the readers. The author does an amazing job of examining faith and the lives of these women, who are more than the image their headscarves represent. They were on a journey to a sacred place, but did they, by doing so, travel to themselves?

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

A common struggle with becoming a parent is trying not to lose parts of yourself or your whole sense of self, and half the time, we’re grasping at straws. Being a parent is utterly demanding, and from the day your child comes home, everything you do has to be structured around them and their schedules. You have to find new ways to enjoy the things you once did or to take up new hobbies altogether.

My daughter turns two this month, and I’ve found myself thinking about all the things that have changed in the past two years. My hobbies look different these days; I briefly returned to crocheting, took up jigsaw puzzles and had to figure out how to continue reading.

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I started keeping track of books I’ve read in 2020. Since then, my lowest record was in 2024, when I read twenty books, half of which were short stories/books. At the time, I was trying my hardest not to let go of a part of my life that still felt like me. It certainly hasn’t been smooth sailing, but I’m in a great place now.

For three months last year, I didn’t read a single page, I trudged on for the next few months, but towards the end of the year, I started enjoying reading again, and it was no longer about holding on to my hobby.

I explored different things to adjust my schedule to accommodate reading, which I’ll be sharing below.

Short stories: The first thing I explored was reading short stories. I had tried them time and again when life got busy, so I knew it would be a good way to continue reading while I navigated being a new parent. It also helped with the guilt of leaving a book half-read because I had other pressing things to do, and too much time had passed to go back to it.

Audiobooks: Before I became a mum, I couldn't care less about audiobooks. In my quest to continue reading, I decided to try some and signed up to Audible. It took some getting used to, and at first, I had to follow along on Kindle or with the hard copy, so my mind wouldn’t stray, but I can now fully focus on audiobooks. It also helps that my daughter is now a bit independent and able to eat and play by herself.

Me-Time: When my daughter started crawling, I made it a priority to schedule some me-time every other day. I would do anything with that time, as long as it was solely for me. It all went out the window when I was working full-time (I only lasted three months), but since I started working part-time, I’ve been doing much better. When I first started, I would take a walk, have a nap, or see to my hair, but the scheduled me-time has since evolved to include reading and a bit of writing.

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Managing chores: When you have children, the chores are hardly ever done. As you finish one, another one is creeping up, or you remember something you have to do. This year, I’ve been waking up earlier or going to bed later to make room for my own stuff. On the days I’m not working, I wake up early to read or do some writing. I also try my best to do the bulk of my chores the night before, so I don’t have a list of unfinished chores running in the back of my mind when I’m reading or writing in the morning.

Carrying a book everywhere: This one isn’t so new to be honest, but I’ve been doing it a lot more. I try to have a hard copy for my commute to work so I’m not distracted by my phone. When I don’t have any new books, I borrow one or two from the library. I’ve also been going to the library more, and knowing I have a time limit helps me make time to read. I know I could simply renew the loan, but where’s the fun in that?

Joining a book club: This is a great way to find new books and/or authors you may enjoy, and the prospect of talking about a book with other people gives you something to look forward to. It has worked really well for me. The first book club I joined is now defunct, but I have since joined another one, and I’m loving it.

Amidst these different options, the main thing that has kept everything together is giving myself grace, being patient and willing to try something else if one thing didn’t work out. Reading for leisure should be enjoyed, not performed. I also don’t insist on finishing a book if I don’t like it. If you’ve tried other things, let’s know in the comments. Happy reading!

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Zacharias’ best friend, Helier, once asked him if Dorothée was his mother or his big sister because she seemed young and didn’t deal with him the way other mothers did with their children. He also asked him where they had lived before, and why she spoke French to him instead of their native dialect. It was from this friend that Zacharias fully came to understand what his mother did for a living.

“To his knowledge, there was no before. The totality of the conscious memories he had of Dorothée and himself were in this neighbourhood, in this slum where he lived now, which was not even a slum because he knew nothing else. The idea of a before troubled him, maybe something to explain his mother’s tears. Something inside him was frightened, he didn’t have the words to describe the confusion and the dull anxiety.”

Between different men coming and going from their shared room, and his mother’s drinking, Zacharias grows into a man battling with his identity. He had no connection to his extended family or heritage, and therefore, had no anchor. As Zacharias enters adolescence, the pressure of not knowing his background led him to rebellion. He was doing all he could to not return home early in the day. Once he understood what actually transpired between his mother and the men who came looking for her, he wanted to be as far away as possible.

Years later, he ran away to Paris. He met his wife one night when he had all but given up on life. She had mistaken him for an alcoholic because he was sitting on the sidewalk next to a pile of bottles. She gave him her card and asked him to come and see him at the hospital so she could help him with his addiction. She was the only person who stopped to speak to him.

“It was ten degrees Celsius outside, and he thought in a sort of morbid self-mockery that he had not chosen the right day to freeze to death in the street. And then that woman came, and that laughter, bringing with it a thin, fragile thread of warmth to light up his night.”

He hesitated but he eventually went to see her. He had left home without so much as a backward glance nearly nine years before, but his childhood trauma still seeped into everything. He was anxious about being with someone.

“On their first date, he told her about the article—a really hard day at work—but that was all. The rest, he kept to himself. The lassitude, the extreme solitude inhabiting him, that feeling he had of being all alone in the world, of being irredeemably unhappy, the dizziness, the fright that also paradoxically, the resignation. Missing his mother, missing Nella, his city, his neighbourhood, his friends, the gaping hole of his past, the thought that he would never have the energy to get up from that place and take another step toward anywhere, but that didn’t matter because no one he truly loved would know what had happened to him.”

Zacharias and his mother had a fraught and unusual relationship. She looked after him the best she could, but she never asked about his friends, how he was doing at school, or about any other thing he got up to. He heard from others that his mother was proud of him. Their interactions were mostly perfunctory, except when she cut his hair, which she did with utmost care.

“They watched over each other without ostentation, without embrace—a blanket pulled up, a bucket full of water for the evening bath, two lumps of sugar and a piece of bread so as not to sleep on an empty stomach. Never a word that hurts, neither intentionally nor in the tone, no aggressiveness, even in the attitude. His clothes were clean, his hair cut short. She wanted him to shower and brush his teeth every morning before going to school, and be polite to adults. He didn’t remember her teaching him to take care of his things or do his homework and she didn’t have to remind him about manners in front of strangers. He had always known with a kind of precocious intuition that by taking care of himself, he was protecting her.”

Dorothée usually conducted her business in barns or when her son was at school, but sometimes, he would return home in the afternoon to find the door closed and would wait outside for the men to leave. Some of them gave him money for sweets, which he usually kept, knowing that his mother would ask to lend it when they had no food left. They hardly had enough food for both of them, but she drank all day and sometimes cried in her sleep when she was drunk.

“‘You look so much like him, Dorothée would say, smiling as she cut his hair. It was just about the only time in their lives when she touched him, always with gentleness. He was beautiful, you know? You have his big forehead. My mother used to say his forehead was full of intelligence.’ She did not add anything else about this father and this mother, whom she never spoke of in any other circumstances, and about whom he did not dare ask her any questions.”

The burden of protecting his mother shaped Zacharias’ choices and behaviours. It also prevented him from growing up and maturing as he should. There was no room for conversations about life and the important things parents teach their children. His life was largely shaped by the things unsaid between him and his mother, and her teetering between the present and the unknown. The most he got from her was saying that he had become too old for them to share a bed.

“In New Bell, confrontation with sexuality came early; if not in deed, then in the crude terms used to name it…Perhaps because it was omnipresent in his life, because his mother’s work threatened his equilibrium, Little Pa kept himself away from hypersexualization for a long time. He shied away from the concrete, the crude aspects of his existence as if instinctively, he knew how devastating it could be to know. The boy clung to childhood longer than was usual in his environment.”

As the story moves between the present and the past, we see Zacharias’ emotional and psychological journey. He was the smartest boy in his class, but he somehow knew nothing about life and living. He and his mother had simply been going through the motions over the years, depending on each other.

A child shouldn’t have the responsibility of taking care of their parents at a young age, but she was unwell and they had no one else. Parents have to first be well to properly raise their children. Add to that, Dorothée was only a child herself when she had him; she needed someone to take care of her, too.

Of course she loved him. He had no doubt about that, but he knew that she could lose him too, inadvertently, and forget to look for him. He had to make sure that didn’t happen. She did not mention his father, so the boy assumed that she had lost him with the others. He got used to the idea of having no father, no grandparents, no uncle, no aunt. He didn’t even have a village to visit for the holidays. He and his mother were alone in the world; he only had her, she only had him, and they didn’t need anything or anyone else. Just him and her. He resolved not to ask her any more questions that would make her cry, and because he didn’t know which those might be, he just didn’t ask anything.”

Zacharias had run away with the hope of building a life that wasn’t defined by his past, but the past remains a part of us, no matter how far we travel. With themes of family neglect, mental health struggles, and the shadow of childhood trauma, Little Pa is a deeply moving and thought-provoking story about the lasting impact of unanswered questions. He had done all he could to escape his former life, but he still carried it everywhere with him, unaware that a simple tug could send everything crashing down.

“He decided to help others like him and her. He would make it his profession, specializing in the safeguarding and care of kids damaged by parents who were themselves in psychological distress. He would be for them that grown up he needed when he was a child.”

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? If you enjoyed reading this post, it would be great if you could tap the heart to help it reach more people. You can also leave a comment and share it with your friends. See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.

Greetings, once again dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and looking after yourself.

Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.
Today’s newsletter is a guest feature by Adedoyin, a writer and lover of all things art, literature, music, paintings, and movies. You can mostly find him reading, writing, or daydreaming about the Corleone family. He’s addicted to cakes, books, and suits. He writes from Lagos and tweets @AjayiAdedoyin14

A theme of searching for identity runs through the novel. Sera’s parents struggle with the identity crisis that follows displacement, and this also, curiously, plays out in Sera as he struggles to find his place. It bleeds into his relationships, his career choice, and his inability to stay tethered to people and places.

Although Sera finds a bit more comfort in Cape Town, he soon finds that it is not home; that he is an outsider. Much like his parents, Guillome and Therese, who grapple with their new realities in Namibia, far from their Rwandan roots, Sera encounters similar cultural boundaries, reminding him of his outsider status.

Sera, for all of his smooth-talking exterior, struggles to find his place. We see this in his several adventures with female partners, his unease in both Windhoek and Cape Town, his grudging will to complete his postgraduate law degree, and the uncertainty about its prospects. He feels like an outsider around his family, but feels slightly more at ease when he’s with his friends—Bianca, Andrew, Adewale, Godwin, Yasseen, James, and Richard—altogether nicknamed the ‘High Lords of Empireland.’

In a non-linear narrative, the author highlights the backstories of several characters, weaving a tale rooted in both the past and the present. Ngamije’s writing is precise, his expressions fresh and effortless. Sera’s observations are as keen and as funny as the many conversations that go on in his head. As he struggles to find his place, he does so without any thought of caution. In spite of his uncertainties, he lives with an overconfident zeal, making him an actor performing on the world’s stage.

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‘…at some point, everyone feels at odds with whatever it is they’re living…sooner or later everyone feels like home is a haven for less and they start looking for places of more…they like it for a while, and then they get bored too. So the cycle starts again…’

The Eternal Audience of One highlights the idea that new or different places are not necessarily easy escapes. Sera finds more comfort in Cape Town, but the niggling uncertainties he had in Namibia have followed him and still plague him.

The novel is a bildungsroman of sorts, a coming-of-age story. Sera grows from an inexperienced teenager into a young man full of masculine bravado. Inevitably, he reaches some form of acceptance with himself, his lack of purpose, and his yet-to-be-seen path. Sera shares similarities with Ngamije’s main character (Onion Marks) in his 2021 Caine Prize-nominated story, The Giver of Nicknames. They are both fast talkers, confident, and on the cusp of adulthood.

Ngamije’s writing is as enjoyable and lighthearted as the message he passes across: living despite uncertainty. I enjoyed reading this book a great deal.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Leave a comment, maybe? 😊

Greetings, dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and taking good care of yourself.
Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.

From the title of this book, I knew I would enjoy reading it. It is now on the list of the best books I’ve ever read, not only for the story, but the writing is phenomenal.
Too often, ‘society’ tries to put women in boxes, but it’s not the day to rant about the issues discussed in this book because we won’t leave here today, and I have a celebration to get to. Anyway, read this fantastic book and don’t be ‘society.’

“‘You are the king’s daughter. A beautiful princess. A treasure. I want you to be satisfied the right decision has been made for you.’”

In the 19th century, 14-year-old Temi is married off to a chief in her village. She had always known that her father, the king, would choose a husband for her, but she fell in love with Olu. When the members of her family found out, they hastened the marriage plans, but the chief couldn’t wait. He asked Temi’s mother to arrange for Temi to see him alone, and the misery that took hold of her that night still sat with her when her child was born several months later.

“I lay back on the mat. This body I inhabited seldom felt like a part of me, just a tool the chief had used for his own pleasure. Now, with what had just happened, it felt even less a part of me. As if something much more had been taken.”

Temi goes through the motions of caring for her child with the help of her mother and her Aunty Kike, but it’s clear as day that she would rather be anywhere else. To help her, Aunty Kike comes up with a plan and covers for Temi so she can see Olu from time to time. Soon, Olu informs Temi that he’s leaving for England on a ship, and he wants her to go with him.

Temi leaves her daughter in Aunty Kike’s care and runs away with Olu to build a new life. Olu works in the shipping business with Mr. Carmichael, the man who helped him and his ‘friends’ get aboard the ship. They get married and change their names. Over time, Olu starts his own business, and Temi keeps the books for him. It takes some time, but they make a comfortable life for themselves and buy a house that Temi names ‘Tumbleberry.’ Life is quite comfortable, but when tragedy strikes, Temi resorts to other means to provide for her family.

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Centuries later, Landri is at a crossroads when her boyfriend of five years proposes to her. She decides to leave the house they share, take some time off work, and stay in Tumbleberry, the house she had inherited from her great-grandmother. She barely knew anything about the house or the original owner, just that it passed from one woman to her daughter, one generation to the next.

Different people had rented and lived in the house over time, but there was a lot of mystery around the house and the people who had originally lived in it. Going from one room to the other, Landri finds a library, and tucked between classics and possible first editions, is a journal. Although it feels intrusive at first, Landri reads every page and discusses parts of it with Gwen, the neighbour she met when she moved into the house. Coupled with answers from Gwen, Landri gets to know who Temi Masters was and about the life she lived.

Along with readers, Landri discovers what the newspaper column, The Manual For Good Wives, was all about and how it came to be. Every chapter of the book begins with advice for wives, and although it was centuries ago, we can see that many of these things are still expected of women today. Landri also finds the courage to make the necessary decisions to start living life on her own terms.

“From the moment Landri had opened the notebook, her life had changed. She’d soaked up each word, crying and laughing along the way, feeling a sense of fullness once she had finished. As if the notebook had somehow filled in the missing pieces and made the past whole again. Landri was not the same person she once was.”

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Leave a comment, maybe? 😊
See more about what I’m reading and my other hobbies on X, Instagram, or TikTok.
If you buy this book using the link included, I’ll get a commission.

Greetings, once again dear reader👋🏽👋🏽
I hope you are doing well and looking after yourself.

Welcome to another edition of this spectacular newsletter.
Today’s newsletter is a guest feature by Adedoyin, a writer and lover of all things art, literature, music, paintings, and movies. You can mostly find him reading, writing, or daydreaming about the Corleone family. He’s addicted to cakes, books, and suits. He writes from Lagos and tweets @AjayiAdedoyin14

ANOWERS oscillates between a first and a third-person narrative. The author delves into the first-person perspective using the diary entries of two characters: Yara and Zachary. While Yara’s entries are vulnerable, chaotic, and tinged with a desperation to make sense of her unusual family dynamic, Zachary’s entries show a transition from a mindless killer to unlocking his humanity, a revolt against his lifelong ideals. The personal feel of their thoughts is intimate and aware, and presents them as more than assassins but humans crafted towards a single-minded goal.

As their personalities shine through the curtain of manipulation, it becomes both their salvation individually and their undoing as a unit, as a team. Zachary’s subsequent enlightenment contrasts with Yara’s growing awareness of her feelings. Yara’s introspective and sensitive nature, for instance, particularly shows the complexity of the characters, making them more engaging. Yara is skilled at murdering targets, yet craves deep connections.

Zachary’s interaction with the outside world becomes counterproductive for Ebuka’s goals as it exposes him to the many possibilities of life and living. He begins to see humans as more than just pawns to be pushed around and kicked off boards, but as entities that bleed, hurt, and love.

Evione, another sibling, also portrays this complexity. Her name is a wordplay on “Evil One,” yet she is kind to and fiercely protective of Yara and Zachary. She is an efficient killer, yet nearly sacrifices herself to protect Zachary from being killed*.

The novel is refreshing, as it takes a different route to show the Nigerian sphere through a thriller rather than the oft-grim realism typical of Nigerian literature. The author shines light on manipulation and breaking free from environmental influences. The subtle way the author inserts it is reminiscent of how J.K. Rowling uses the single-minded goal of “Death Eaters” bent on exterminating the “Muggles” and “Mudbloods” in her Harry Potter franchise to shed light on racism, racial supremacy, and genocide through fantasy.

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Although thrillers are more popular for action scenes than reflecting certain aspects of humanity, ANOWERS excels in shedding light on the harmful effects of emotional manipulation. The character development is striking, and the awe a reader feels for the characters at the beginning gradually turns to pity at the end.

“Nobody deserves to die like this…like their lives don’t matter. For the first time, it hits me; Ebuka…created monsters. A gruesome pack of emotionless, wild creatures…for the longest time…I’ve been part of them.”

Nigerian thrillers are a rarity, and an excellent Nigerian thriller, even more so. Odira’s prose is imaginative; he describes action scenes with remarkable fluidity without being repetitive or verbose. The characters are varied–passionate and protective like Evione, while some are bloodthirsty, like Dozie.

Though this is the first in the series, certain aspects of the setting fall under the radar: mainly, the isolation the siblings find themselves in. Just how remote or far from civilization is their abode that makes their manipulation effective? How isolated is their bubble, their setting? Perhaps the author has reserved these bits for the sequels.

Through interludes, the author provides glimpses into the future. Nonetheless, the arrival raises rather than douses the suspense. ANOWERS is a sterling work of fiction, and I’m curious to see what comes next in the series.

Have you read this book? What did you think about it? Leave a comment, maybe? 😊

In today’s newsletter, we bring you seven short story collections everyone should read. Never mind that these are some of our favourite short story collections. We love them, and we’re sure you will enjoy reading them.

Short story collections are a great way to enjoy multiple plots, characters, and perspectives and themes in one book. Many of them highlight voices and experiences that may not be featured in novellas or full-length novels, and they are a good way to discover new authors and their writing style. Short story collections are also perfect for busy schedules. Let’s get into it.

1. A Broken People’s Playlist by Chimeka Garricks
   A beautiful collection of twelve loosely connected touching short stories inspired by music, exploring themes of love, loss, memory, trauma, friendship, and healing. It’s such amazing storytelling that everyone should experience at least once. My favorite story was Song for Someone.
   N.B: Some of the stories are triggering and very sad.
   

2. Elsewhere, Home by Leila Aboulela
   A collection of thirteen warm short stories about faith, identity, migration, belonging, and the loneliness of building a life away from home. I loved Coloured Lights, in which a homesick woman grieves her brother’s death and the life she had back home. On the bus home from work in London, she can see the streets lined with festive lights, the same kind of lights that had killed her brother on the day that he was getting married. Summer Maze was a close second. It’s a 10/10 collection that feels like a hug you don’t want to end.
   

3. For What Are Butterflies Without Their Wings by Troy Onyango
   Set in Kenya, it’s a collection of twelve emotional short stories about love, longing, loneliness, loss, and the intricacies of everyday life. It focuses on characters feeling trapped, misunderstood, or emotionally hurt, and looking for acceptance, freedom, acceptance, or how to truly be themselves. This is one of my recent reads, and I absolutely enjoyed it. The titular story was my favourite. In it, a sister relives two decades of sibling rivalry mostly instigated by their mother, when her brother disappears in a lake.

4. Ghostroots by Pemi Aguda
   Ghostroots is quite an enigmatic collection that balances modernity with mystic elements while exploring themes of motherhood, abuse, and tradition. At some points, the lines blur and become the same. Set in Lagos, this collection of horror stories doesn’t exactly make you quake in your boots, but it shows eccentric characters doing eccentric things. Of the twelve stories, 24, Alhaji Williams Street is the cream of the crop for me. It shows the insidiousness in the unknown, as well as the futility of fighting an enemy one neither knows nor understands.

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5. Nights of the Creaking Bed by Toni Kan
   This short story collection explores Lagos for all the beauty in the city’s ugliness. It’s an engaging assortment of stories buzzing with daily realities that every Lagosian knows too well. Toni Kan writes about Lagosians without shirking from the grimy parts, refusing easy narratives in a frank, yet highly enjoyable manner. It was hard to pick a favourite story, but Broda Sonnie stands out to me. The story portrays Lagos conductors as more than mere characters who hang from buses and yell in the streets, but as beings with lives beyond what we see daily.

6. Rotten Row by Petina Gappah
   A series of stories set in Zimbabwe about the nature of justice, the many forms it takes, and the perversion of it as it is intertwined with everyday living. The stories show the vagaries of everyday life in Zimbabwe and how the characters try to make sense of their realities. The Death of Wonder is my favorite story, as it sits on a knife-edge of suspense until its unraveling.
   

7. The Thing Around Your Neck by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
   A collection of twelve riveting short stories about different issues of life, including identity, migration, love, and cultural conflict across multiple stories. Set in both Nigeria and the United States, the stories focus on characters navigating personal struggles shaped by politics, familial expectations, and immigration. My favorite was The Arrangers of Marriage.

Have you read any of these books? If you have any recommendations, please share. If you read any of the books after reading this newsletter, do come back and share, thanks!😊