“With a population of just under 180 million people and a GDP of $568.5 billion, Nigeria is the richest country in Africa. Sadly, over 100 million Nigerians live in poverty, surviving on less that $1 a day.”
I’m Betty Martin with "Martin’s Must Reads" and that’s from Abi Dare’s prologue to her novel The Girl With the Louding Voice. It’s 2014 and fourteen year old Adunni’s mother has died. Because her mother was the only wage earner in the family, Adunni’s father now has to come up with a way to pay the rent and feed the family. So he does what so many fathers do, he sells Adunni to Morufu to be his third wife and give him sons.
Adunni’s mother did all she could to send her to school encouraging her to be a teacher, find her louding voice and improve the lives of the females in her village. Instead, “Adunni finds that her life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens, and a new TV.”
When tragedy occurs in her home with Morufu, Adunni runs away and is then sold to a wealthy cloth manufacturer as her maid. She spends long days cleaning and is beaten almost daily by the unhappy lady of the house. The chef befriends her and passes along information about a scholarship that will allow her to finish her education. But she must learn to speak English better and find a sponsor. Adunni is noticed by the wife of a doctor in town who makes it her mission to help Adunni escape life as a maid and find her louding voice.
“If you’re looking for a coming-of-age story “that vividly captures a young woman’s courageous struggle for the right to choose her own future” then you must read The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Dare.
