The Girl With The Louding Voice by Abi Daré

Paperback: See? I tell you Adunni, even if you marry my father and you think all your hope is finish, your mind is not finishing. Inside of your mind, you can be the teacher you want. You like to be reading books, so feed your mind with reading of any book you find, maybe in the dustbins of Idanra town or some cheap ones in the market. - Chapter 12, The Girl with the Louding Voice

The Girl with the Louding Voice (2020) is shortlisted for the Desmond Elliott Prize 2020. It is an instant New York Times bestseller, an Observer Hottest Tipped Debut Novel 2020, a 'Read with Jenna' Today Show Book Club Pick, a Most Anticipated Book of 2020 by The New York Times, Marie Claire, BBC, Vogue, Essence, PopSugar, Daily Mail, Electric Literature, Red Magazine, Stylist, Daily Kos, Library Journal, The Every Girl and Read It Forward and the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize.

As the only daughter of a broke father, fourteen-year-old Adunni is a valuable commodity. Removed from school and sold as a third wife to an old man, Adunni's life amounts to this: four goats, two bags of rice, some chickens and a new TV. 

When unspeakable tragedy swiftly strikes in her new home, she is secretly sold as a domestic servant in the wealthy enclaves of Lagos, where no one will talk about the strange disappearance of her predecessor, Rebecca. No one but Adunni.

As a yielding daughter, a subservient wife, and a powerless servant, Adunni is repeatedly told that she is nothing. But Adunni would not be silenced. She is determined to find her voice - in a whisper, in song, in broken English - until she can speak for herself, for the girls like Rebecca who came before, and for all the girls who will follow. 

The Girl with the Louding Voice is a simultaneously heartbreaking and triumphant tale about the power of fighting for your dreams.

About the author: Abi Daré grew up in Lagos, Nigeria and has lived in the UK for eighteen years. She studied law at the University of Wolverhampton and has an MSc in International Project Management from Glasgow Caledonian University as well as an MA in Creative Writing at Birkbeck University of London. The Girl with the Louding Voice won The Bath Novel Award for unpublished manuscripts in 2018 and was also selected as a finalist in 2018 The Literary Consultancy Pen Factor competition. Abi lives in Essex with her husband and two daughters, who inspired her to write her debut novel.

Rating: 5/5