Let’s celebrate this October with some brilliant fiction that tells the stories of black lives and experiences through history.
Inspired by Black History Month, each week we will be reviewing books that we think are both compelling and insightful. Today, Ms J recommends:
Wake Me When I’m Gone and Taduno’s Song by Odafe Atogun
Atogun is a Nigerian writer who pulls you into the daily lives of his characters as they grapple with the influence of change in African towns that are still rooted in folklore and tradition. These books demonstrate storytelling at its most simple and effective. They reflect on the strains placed on finding meaning in love, family and identity when living in a world moulded by shifting politics, religion and environment. The covers are beautiful too!
Wake Me When I’m Gone is the tale of how a woman overcomes the traumas inflicted upon her by tough living, grief and the long-standing discriminatory traditions of small town life and raise her son to be strong enough to carry on her legacy. It is a celebration of integrity and perseverance in the face of poverty, corruption, prejudice and abuse. What could be more motivating?
Taduno’s Song
tells us how living under dictatorships can stifle creativity, displace identities
and tear apart relationships. This is a fable of one man’s fight against state-sponsored
violence from within the confines of his imprisonment. When his voice and his
freedom is taken from him, Taduno’s music becomes his story and his power. But
he must make a devastating choice. Will one man and his guitar fight for change
or for love.