“She was a mermaid – queen of song and sea, goddess of the gill-bearing vertebrates, mistress of the hearts of men.”
After a couple of “meh” BOTM reads (I’m trying to clear a backlist), I read one that reminded me why I keep the membership. Oyinkan Braithwaite’s Cursed Daughters (Doubleday 2025) gave me absolutely everything I love in a novel. It’s rich in culture, strongly rooted in time and place, with a storytelling that recalls oral traditions that always get my attention. There’s generational trauma and a curse, strong women, magical realism, sharp writing, heart for days, and a dog that seems immortal. When I say I was hooked, I was hooked. Not to mention, Mami Wata is by far one of my favorite folklore characters the world over.
This is my first Braithwaite, but her first novel My Sister, the Serial Killer was longlisted for my beloved Booker Prize. (It was before I committed to reading the entire longlist each year.) This novel is reportedly significantly different from that novel, but this follow-up novel seems to cement her as a serious literary talent that won’t be boxed in as any one type of writer. And I love to see it.
As for the novel itself, I don’t want to spoil it; it needs to spread out before you like a water stain from a slow leak. But I will give a brief summary – Monife and Ebun are cousins who live with their mothers in the family home. They’ve grown up in the shadow of a curse like their mothers before them – “no man will call your house home. And if they try, they will not have peace.” One night, a heartbroken Monife walks into the water and drowns. (This is how the novel opens, so it’s not really a spoiler.) On the day they bury her, Ebun goes into labor – delivering a girl who is undeniably the spitting image of Monife. Rumors and whispers fly that the baby, named Enniyi, is Monife reincarnated. Eniiyi spends her life trying to cleave the ghost of her aunt from her while also trying to outrun the family curse.
Cursed Daughters is brilliant, well-written and extremely palatable with a pace and unfolding of a story that is about perfect. And that cover… now she is absolutely stunning.
Read this book.
A Girl Named Tommi 