CC Spin #41: Second-Class Citizen
Second-Class Citizen, by Buchi Emecheta It's no wonder this is the novel that won Emecheta fame. It's just so well-written! It wasn't easy to read, because Adah is having a very rough time, and yet I couldn't put it down; it sucked me right in. Adah is an insignificant daughter of a family who was expecting a son, but -- even after her father dies and she has to go live with others -- she is determined to get an education and do well for herself. As a young woman she obtains a well-paid position in Lagos, and that means that she is desirable as a wife, because she can pay for a husband's education. She is married off to Francis (this is the late 1960s), and her ambition is to get her family to Britain, where she can get more education and become a librarian. So first she funds Francis' trip to go there and become a lawyer, while she stays in Lagos and has a baby. And despite all opposition, she gets herself and her little family to London. Londo...