CC Spin #41: Second-Class Citizen

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 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.

London is very difficult; much more so than Adah had imagined.  There are only a few places that will take Africans as tenants, she has another baby on the way, Francis isn't acclimating and has practically dropped out of school, but won't work either.  Adah finds daycare and a job at a beautiful library that she loves.  And she starts thinking that maybe she could write a book, too...

This is a semi-autobiographical novel, and it's just fantastic.  A lucky choice for my Spin! 

 

 

This is also Summerbook #5!  Clearly I didn't get as much reading done as I planned....but I do have some others I just haven't written up yet. 

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