The Joys of Motherhood

"I was born in Nigeria and moved to the UK when I was six or seven and went to a boarding school there. So, invariably, you start off reading what your peers are reading. Then you find the library and you discover a lot of African American books —the James Baldwins and the Alice Walkers. After that, I stumbled upon the Heinemann African Writers Series. Buchi Emecheta was, I think, the first Nigerian author that I came across, and she has definitely imprinted on me. The Joys of Motherhood is one of my favourite books by her, because it really encompasses the whole female condition. The protagonist Nnu-Ego is born with a birthmark on her head linked to her Chi—which is like a god—who they claim is denying her a child. She’s sent to Lagos from her village to marry a man she’s never met and finds herself immediately disappointed with this new husband, who washes clothes for a living. City life is in complete contrast to her life in the village as the daughter of a chief in a polygamous rural community. She has no family support there and she struggles to adapt in her new environment. Her first child dies in the first chapter, and she’s devastated by the loss. Gradually she recovers when she has a second child and goes on to have nine children. But with that comes a struggle for survival. When her husband’s brother dies, he inherits four wives. He moves the youngest and prettiest of them into the home, and challenges ensue. “Nigeria is a massive country with so much diversity, and that makes it ripe for storytelling” It’s the story of one woman’s battle to raise her children, to give them better opportunities than she had. It’s called ‘ The Joys of Motherhood ’ because her children’s success should be enough for her, but her own hopes and dreams are squandered. Intertwined alongside her story is the story of the changing face of the country. At the beginning of the book, there is English colonial control over Nigeria. After World War Two, you start to see Nigeria striving for, preparing for independence. You have the youth eager for change, but the older generations tied to the traditions of the past. It’s very vibrant storytelling, and it’s done in Emecheta’s own unique way. Her writing captures and deals with a lot of injustice and inequality, capturing a quiet dignity and instinctive womanhood: just cracking on, soldiering on. Emecheta is a very impressive writer. I realised this as I was putting the list together. There’s a theme! I’ll pretend I did it on purpose."