Ekwe, a boy driven often by hunger pangs, resents his twelve-year-old sister for not wanting to be married to a wealthy, adult man who offers the family access to food and, perhaps, safety. Ekwe's journey is incited by folk magic that is posited as fact after touching a forbidden leaf, ekwukwonju, that his mother and father warn him causes being caught in astral planes.
The novel does not shy away from tragedy and yet, the prose's lush lyricism and surprising comedy offers hope and grace in spite of its documentation of social upheaval. A love story takes shape, family and land disintegrates and reforms; characters are rendered fully dimensional while still being executors of violence and power. In two words, it is urgent and unforgettable.
In a rich, lyrical prose all his own, Uchenna Awoke maps his country's and his people's resistance while paying witness conflicts of land, ever shifting diaspora, and the violence of child marriage.
