The main premise of the story was about a young girl called Blessing and her brother Ezekiel. Blessing tells their story of initially living with their mother and father in a rich part of Nigeria in a house with air conditioning, and her memories are of a happy loving family. Then things turn sour when her father has an affair with another woman and leaves them with not enough money to keep their house and so they are forced to move to live with her Grandma and Grandad in a poor village. Here there is no air conditioning, there is no fridge, there is not even any running water. After struggling to get used to this new life Blessing finds her place in this world and begins to learn Grandmas trade, to be a midwife. She is only twelve years old, but it is fascinating how she takes on this responsibility and soaks up Grandma's knowledge and advice. The birth scenes in the book are a mixture of beautiful and harrowing, describing the conditions in which these women gave birth in their village and how the traditions of female genital mutilation can cause so many shocking problems for women giving birth in later life.
Meanwhile her older brother Ezekiel has gone from aspiring to be a doctor to joining a rebel gang in the village and begins to go off the rails. Blessings mother falls in love with a white man and is determined to marry him much to the confusion and disapproval of many, leaving Blessing eventually with the decision of whether to leave her home to go and live in England with her mother. Grandma was my favourite character because she seemed to be in control of the family (even though Alhaji the granddad thought he was). She was always calm and wise, she was mother to everyone even when Alhaji brought home a second wife she took her under her wing, she believed everything happened for a reason, and was always content with her life. Alhaji was a proud man who thought he was the head of the household even though he never actually worked and spent their money keeping up appearances he did appear to have a good heart, he was maybe just a little eccentric, always coming up with bizarre schemes like snail farming and had a crazy believe in the medicinal properties of marmite.
If you didn't get a chance to read this book for book club, I would recommend reading it sometime as its an interesting insight into a different side of the world and it is a well written heart-warming story with believable characters.
Next months book was decided...'Life of Pi' by Yann Martel
I am particular excited about this because I put this book on the list about a year ago and have been hoping it would come up. I have seen the film but have been told by many that the book is fantastic so I have high hopes for this one.
After the tragic sinking of a cargo ship, a solitary lifeboat remains bobbing on the wild, blue Pacific. The only survivors from the wreck are a sixteen year-old boy named Pi, a hyena, a zebra (with a broken leg), a female orang-utan ? and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. The scene is set for one of the most extraordinary and best-loved works of fiction in recent years'
Next Book Club
Date: 19th February
Time: 7.30pm
Location: TBC
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