The Joys of Motherhood

(Paperback)

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Description

A feminist literary classic by one of Africa's greatest writers First published in 1979, The Joys of Motherhood is the story of Nnu Ego, a Nigerian woman struggling in a patriarchal society. Unable to conceive in her first marriage, Nnu is banished to Lagos where she succeeds in becoming a mother. Then, against the backdrop of World War II, Nnu must fiercely protect herself and her children when she is abandoned by her husband and her people. Powerful, moving and profound, The Joys of Motherhood paints a rich, nuanced portrait of life in colonial Nigeria and dramatizes the changing role of women in the twentieth century.

Reviews

I read and admired all her books ... The book I adored most was The Joys of Motherhood, for its sparkling intelligence and a certain kind of honest, lived, intimate insight into working-class colonial Nigeria -- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
A scorching portrayal of a woman's life in pre-independence Nigeria . . . should be up there as the female, feminist counterpart to Chinua Achebe's celebrated and widely taught novel Things Fall Apart -- Bernardine Evaristo
A rich, multilayered work of fiction, full of drama and written with deceptive simplicity * Essence *
Writes with subtlety, power, and abundant compassion * New York Times *
Fresh and relevant . . . expertly and sensitively shines a light on the distortion of traditional values -- Lola Jaye * Lit Hub *

Author Bio

Buchi Emecheta (1944-2017) was born in Lagos, Nigeria and moved to London in 1961. A writer and academic, she wrote sixteen novels, three children's stories and numerous articles and television plays.