The Panafro Book club

Home going is a powerful historical novel that plunges us into the story of two half-sisters and, through them, three hundred years in Ghana.

It begins with an Asante woman named Maame, in the 18th Century and her two daughters, who are half-sisters. They will be separate by circumstances: Effia marries James Collins, the British governor in charge of Cape Coast Castle, while her half-sister Esi is held captive in the dungeons below. Her children and grandchildren will be raised in slavery. Generation after generation, Yaa Gyasi's magisterial first novel sets the fate of the individual against the obliterating movements of time.

the novel is available in Luxembourg libraries. You only need that you can get there, it’s free: https://www.a-z.lu/discovery/search?vid=352LUX_BIBNET_NETWORK:BIBNET_UNION

Let me know if you have any troubles to find it 😉 see you!

The Joys of Motherhood is a novel written by the Nigerian writer Buchi Emecheta and first published in London, in 1979. the story centers around Nnu Ego, whose parents are Chief Agbadi and Ona. Though the chief has a few wives, everyone is aware that Ona has his heart. Ona will give birth to Nnu Ego, the main character.

Through her, the writer explores the "necessity for a woman to be fertile, and above all to give birth to sons". A difficult path, cause Nnu Ego will have a bad fate with childbearing.

The novel tackles several topics: the motherhood,the connection and conflict between the old and the new Nigerian society, the traditional and the foreign. But also the role that Nigeria played in world war II.

The reviewer for West Africa magazine wrote: « Buchi Emecheta has a way of making readable and interesting ordinary events. »

The book is available in the National library. This time I suggest that anyone who decides to borrow the book should indicate in the comments (or message me) when you have it and when you are going to return it, so that someone else can borrow it. Thank you!