Synopsis:

All you have are your words.

Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education.

As the only daughter of a broke father, she is a valuable commodity. Removed from school and sold as a third wife to an old man, Adunni’s life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens and a new TV. When unspeakable tragedy swiftly strikes in her new home, she is secretly sold as a domestic servant to a household in the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where no one will talk about the strange disappearance of her predecessor, Rebecca. No one but Adunni…

As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless servant, fourteen-year-old Adunni is repeatedly told that she is nothing. But Adunni won’t be silenced. She is determined to find her voice – in a whisper, in song, in broken English – until she can speak for herself, for the girls like Rebecca who came before, and for all the girls who will follow.

Review:

What a powerful book.
All fourteen-year-old Adunni has ever wanted is an education and for her voice to be heard and respected. She lives in a rural Nigerian village, the only daughter of a broke father. We follow her through her journey as she is forced into marriage as a third wife, then onto the big city where she is sold as a slave to a wealthy woman.

The first thing I noticed about this book was the writing. The story is told in broken English since Adunni is semi-literate (though of course, English is not her first language). This lends Adunni a very unique character voice, and I found it interesting to read, especially since she took a lot of idioms and phrases very literally.

I loved following Adunni through this – she wormed her way right into my heart. Despite all the terrible things happening to her (tw for sexual and physical abuse among other things), she remains courageous, kind and strives to achieve her dreams. While difficult to read at times – not least because I am well aware that this is still happening to young girls in Nigeria today – the compulsion to keep reading was always there because Adunni’s hope was your hope too, that she will achieve her dream of education.

“My mama say education will give me a voice. I want more than just a voice, Ms. Tia. I want a louding voice,” I say. “I want to enter a room and people will hear me even before I open my mouth to be speaking. I want to live in this life and help many people so that when I grow old and die, I will still be living through the people I am helping.”

Adunni is a character that will stick with me for a while, and I do recommend picking up this powerful and moving story. It is not an easy read, but I think it is an important one and something that needs to be read.