Ogadinma Or, Everything Will be All Right tells the story of the naïve and trusting teenager Ogadinma as she battles against Nigeria's societal expectations in the 1980s.
After a rape and unwanted pregnancy leave her exiled from her family in Kano, thwarting her plans to go to university, she is sent to her aunt's in Lagos and pressured into a marriage with an older man.
When their whirlwind romance descends into abuse and indignity, Ogadinma is forced to channel her independence and resourcefulness to escape a fate that appears all but inevitable.
Ogadinma, the UK debut by Ukamaka Olisakwe, introduces a heroine for whom it is impossible not to root, and announces the author as a gifted chronicler of the patriarchal experience.
My Review of Ogadinma by Ukamaka Olisakwe
How often does history repeat itself? How does a particular human endure the same form of cruelty over and over again?
For Ogadinma the protagonist of this book, her teenage life is one sad tale, filled with trauma, sexual abuse and violence.
She grows up to resent her mother who abandoned her when she was a baby, but when she goes through her own terrible experiences, she finally forgives her mother.
At seventeen, she is as ambitious as every other young girl who has dreams to study in the University.
But who knows one wrong move can change her entire life forever.
When she meets Tobe, she is not sure if that is what she wants for herself, because Tobe is domineering, but she agrees to marry him, as that seems to be her only way of salvaging her almost wrecked relationship with her father.
Ogadinma's life experiences are similar to what most women endure on a daily basis.
They are taught to remain calm in the face of abuse, because it is better to save your marriage, than leave it to crumble.
Ogadinma is a heart wrenching story that holds you spellbound from the beginning to the end.
It's a book that explores the sufferings of women in the face of misogyny, and why the narrative has to change.
