The Girl with the Louding Voice
Fiction
Dutton
February 4, 2020
Hardcover/Audio
384
Purchased
A powerful, emotional debut novel told in the unforgettable voice of a young Nigerian woman who is trapped in a life of servitude but determined to fight for her dreams and choose her own future.
Adunni is a fourteen-year-old Nigerian girl who knows what she wants: an education. This, her mother has told her, is the only way to get a “louding voice”—the ability to speak for herself and decide her own future. But instead, Adunni's father sells her to be the third wife of a local man who is eager for her to bear him a son and heir.
When Adunni runs away to the city, hoping to make a better life, she finds that the only other option before her is servitude to a wealthy family. As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless slave, Adunni is told, by words and deeds, that she is nothing.
But while misfortunes might muffle her voice for a time, they cannot mute it. And when she realizes that she must stand up not only for herself, but for other girls, for the ones who came before her and were lost, and for the next girls, who will inevitably follow; she finds the resolve to speak, however she can—in a whisper, in song, in broken English—until she is heard.
My review:
What an extraordinary book! Adunni is a character who I will never forget! I don't feel the need to go into a lot of the plot, it's well documented in the book synopsis above. The characters were so well formed (especially Adunni). I will admit that if I had read this one instead of listening on audio, it might have taken a bit of time to get over the vernacular (told in Adunni's voice), but the audio narration was superb! Even though a lot of this book is depressing, there is always a current of hope running through it, and you find yourself cheering for Adunni like she was your own daughter! I also can't write this review and not give a shout out to Tia, who we all need in our lives.
I'm purposefully being vague in this review, but please know that it's because I think this is a book that you need to go into rather blind, it will definitely enhance your experience! I'm so impressed that this is a debut novel, I can't wait to see what else comes from this talented author!
