QUOTE: ‘’Not his-story.... my own will be called her-story, Adunni’s story’’
SYNOPSIS: Adunni is 14 years old and born in a rural village in Nigeria. Her father forces her into an arranged marriage to a man who already has two wives and children. A dreadful incident happens with one of the wives and Adunni runs away before details of the incident comes to light. To ensure her safety, Adunni ends up working as a housemaid to ‘Big Madam’ who treats her as a slave with constant physical and mental abuse.
MY THOUGHTS: wow!
What a Powerful, emotional and loveable story. Adunni is 14 years old and filled with pure courage. She endures so much from grief to rape, to abuse, but none of this stops her from finding her ‘louding voice’ and being a confident teenager with dreams and aspirations.
The story is told in first person by Adunni and both the narratives and dialogues are written in broken English. This initially did slow down my reading, but after a few chapters, became easy to read. I loved the rawness and authenticity of the language.
Alongside the story are facts about Nigeria. Which are very educational and also quite surprising. The story reinforces the sad fact that today many young people are still being trafficked and sold into slavery and are refused educational and human rights. Some scenes and events were very hard for me to process.
The ending of the story was slightly predictable for me, however this did not take away the fact that it is still a heartfelt and triumphant story.
The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Dare
Posted by Simba Sloane