“This flower be the brown of a wet leaf that suffer a stamping from the dirty feets of a man that forget the promise he make to his dead wife.”
Abi Daré’s debut The Girl with the Louding Voice (Dutton 2020) has been on my TBR for ages. I was admittedly a bit reluctant to read it because of the comparisons to Educated, which I disliked immensely. My concerns proved misplaced as this fictional novel sang with an authenticity and beauty that was woefully lacking in the comparison work.
The novel opens with Adunni learning she’s to be married off to Morufu because her family needs the money. Her mother had promised her she’d be able to continue her education and not be married, but her mother died, and promises were broken. Still a child herself, she will be the third wife to a man with a daughter her own age, and she will be expected to bear him sons.
When tragedy strikes, Adunni is able to escape. She finds herself taken to Lagos and given employment as a domestic. But life is not easy there, either. Big Madam is abusive, and the work is hard. Worse, Big Daddy has an insatiable desire for young girls. But Adunni is determined to continue her schooling and change her destiny, and this is just a hiccup in her plans.
Adunni is a light in the darkness. She brims with hope and happiness even in the darkest of situations. She also attracts the lightness in others, like Kofi at Big Madam’s house and Morufu’s second wife, Khadija, and she allows that light to protect and lead her.
Adunni’s determination to fulfill her dreams despite what appear insurmountable odds makes her one of my favorite protagonists, and the clarity and bravery in her voice, the songs tinged in joy, make this novel so impactful.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 