And So I Roar

Daré’s harrowing sequel to The Girl with the Louding Voice chronicles 14-year-old Adunni’s flight from the indentured servitude she’d fallen into after fleeing her husband. Having escaped her abusive employer Big Madame, Adunni now lives with Big Madame’s neighbor Tia in Lagos, Nigeria. Adunni’s plans to start school are interrupted when she’s forced to return to the village of her birth to atone for the death of her husband’s second wife. Tia, a young professional with painful secrets of her own, accompanies Adunni back to her village, and in alternating narration, the two recount the hours leading up to what could be a mortal reckoning for Adunni and several other girls, who have been accused of causing a drought. While Tia desperately tries to phone for help, Adunni and the others are paraded through the village, then left in the forest, with fatal consequences. The juxtaposition of Tia’s urbane voice and Adunni’s heavy dialect lends itself to Daré’s unforgettable contrast of urban, modern Nigeria with its rural, tribal counterpart. Moreover, Adunni’s natural lyricism is as powerful as her resilience. It adds up to an indelible portrait of a turbulent girlhood. Agent: Felicity Blunt, Curtis Brown U.K. (Aug.)