This is a debut novel told in the voice of a young Nigerian girl who is entrapped into a life not of her choosing by her father after the loss of her mother to enable the male family members to get an income.

Adunni, is our 14 year old protagonist and despite the loss of her mother at such a tender age she knows what she wants and that is an education, she believes that with this comes the freedom and "louding voice" which will get her the right to speak for herself and gain the respect she feels she is entitled to in life.

Sadly despite her mothers wishes for her to continue her education, when her mother passes away Adunni is left with her alcoholic father and two brothers to look after. With all the will in the world her father decides to sell her into a polygamous marriage, being the third wife of a local man whose main focus is to get a male progeny to succeed him.

After an earth shattering event occurs to Adunni, the harsh realisation and reality of the events that have happened to her so far hit home and the shock with the adrenaline and need for escape will ask her to draw on the help of an old friend of her mothers to seek asylum and a new life in the city. This only leads Adunni into a life of servitude as a housemaid to a wealthy family. This family will highlight not only the harsh reality of human trafficking but the somewhat outdated beliefs and behaviour's which skewed the value of women at this time in this culture.

Despite this through her exposure to such abusive behaviour, Adunni seems to hold on to her strength of conviction and hope never once losing faith that her goal to receive an education would come true.

I will be honest it did take me quite some time to get into the rhythm of Adunni's voice in this book however, once you get beyond that the beautiful lyricism of the writing draws you deeper and deeper in, whereby you are rooting for Adunni's future with every twist and turn of the road.

This is an amazing piece of debut fiction by Abi Dare and justifiably the winner of the Bath Novel Award in 2019, I look forward with anticipation to further titles written by this author, 5 star must read,

Thank you for the opportunity to give a true and honest review of such a beautiful book, I will be recommending this to friends.

I loved this book, I loved Adunni and her totally compelling story.. I thorougly enjoyed the story of Nigeria and the way the huge gulf between rich and poor, urban and non urban, rich and poor is shown up. Sadly, I know this to be true. I think the best I can say is that this is a lovely book.

The girl of the title is Adunni, a young Nigerian from a small village whose mother has just died and who must face new realities now that there is no one fighting for her to stay in school. Her mother was the one who believed in education, who believed that Adunni should become a girl with a louding voice. But with her mother gone, her alcoholic father needs money to support himself and Adunni’s younger brother. He wants to marry her off to an older man. An older, rich man who already has two wives.

I could describe the entire plot of the book – because Adunni’s journey is both gripping and memorable – without spoiling the real heart of the novel, Adunni’s beautiful, clever, and thoughtful voice, but I won’t. It’s simpler to say that this is a book you fall in love with because it is almost impossible not to fall in love with Adunni.

Right from the start Adunni’s unusual use of English is enticing and fresh, looking at the difficult choices she faces with pragmatism and bravery. The flaws in Adunni’s grammer do not constrain her expression, but impress her world and perspective more nearly upon us. She is such a warm, smart, optimistic, opportunistic and all-embracing girl that you can’t help loving her and wishing her well. She sees the good even in those who beat her. She sees the difficulties of those whose privilege is far greater than her own.

Without being patronising or preachy, this is a book that encourages its readers to wholeheartedly embrace the good in their lives. Adunni is a character who will speak to many. The Girl with the Louding Voice should go straight onto the lists of books taught in schools. I will be disappointed if it doesn’t. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this novel hit the prize lists for this year. The Girl with the Louding Voice is a remarkable achievement, with an irrepressible character at its heart. Pre-order yours now. It comes out in March 2020.

My Adunni. I want to take you and put a blanket of goodness and protection around you.
This book is beautiful. There are some truly horrific aspects to it that happen to girls very often but the message remains clear. No matter what happens, remember to be strong and believe in yourself. Adunni is a warrior with a heart of gold. Ms Tia said it best that she remains smiling despite the trauma she has endured. I believe that this book is the next THUG because of how groundbreaking and honest it is. I'm in awe of Adunni's character and the way that Abi has managed to portray everyone else felt very real. Especially Big Madam when she has moments of weakness. The strong women who are cruel in this book are not depicted as the monsters the patriarchal society pushes them to be. Whereas the men who behave like monsters are shown thoroughly that their actions and behaviours are as evil as they come. Highly recommend this wonderful and inspiring book to every single person out there. It discusses many important subjects like child slavery, child marriage, feminism, patriarchy and pressure on women to have children even when they don't want to. And the most important thing of all. The importance of education, perseverance and how far all of it can get you. Adunni can definitely become the next president of Nigeria.

The Girl with the Louding voice by Abi Daré

Adunni, a fourteen year old Nigerian girl is removed from school by her skint father following the death of her mother and is sold to be a third wife to an old man. When something awful happens she must flee the only village she has ever known alone and soon lands herself in a position, secretly sold to be a domestic servant where she suffers starvation, beatings and the on going risk of abuse. This girl who is constantly told she is nothing is determined to prove them wrong and become the girl with the louding voice. For her, and other girls just like her.

This is a book that will stay with you long after you finish it. Despite being a work of fiction, I am sure, that the tradegy, mistreatment and despair that Adunni suffered and experienced is still happening to this day. A look at cultures so different from my own and a window into domestic servants and modern day slavery.

This book is beautifully written from start to finish. The main characters the stars of the show and I love how the language and derelict comes through in the written word so well.

Adunni at such a young age has experienced more in fourteen years than most us hope we never go through. Its poignant, heartbreaking and inspirational and I cried many tears for Adunni, her mother, her sweet brother Kayus and the friends who treated her right when others didnt.

It was a joy to read, a view into the lives of others. It was a pleasure to follow the extraordinary short life of the Girl with the Louding Voice.

This book is out on 5th March and published by Hodder and Stoughton and can be pre-ordered at Amazon Thanks very much to Netgalley for an advanced copy of this book.

Love Janine at Jewellbooks

A very distinctive and well rounded voice, with a fascinating story, set in a Nigeria that is simply unfamiliar to most Western readers, but is accurately and brilliantly described. Thoroughly enjoyable.

I loved Adunni's voice. How brave she was to go through all that with a smile on her face. I wish I could hug her! Beautifully written, yet tragic. My only gripe is that I have read this story before and am yet to read a happy book about Nigeria - is it really all bad?

Oh what a lovely book and one of the few I have felt compelled to offer 5 stars to. The story is fascinating, the language brilliant, the characters all too believable. The whole concept and execution, to me, was flawless. I do hope there will be a sequel.

his book had me going through so many emotions I felt physically worn after finishing it.

There was wonder, anger,more anger, sheer helplessness, a caring need to help out, fear, hatred but most of all, admiration. This could be a true story and probably is for so many young girls like Adunni.

SEt in Nigeria, the girl Adunni whose story we follow is perhaps on of the most fascinating characters I’ve met in a long time. I felt privileged to have met her and been on this journey with her. I can’t even begin to imagine her pain and suffering yet even just going on this literary journey with her, I feel humbled.

What a book for a book club - women in Nigeria and other parts of the world have NO rights. If you think The Handmaid’s Tale is bad, then Adunni teaches you a thing or two. Adunni tells her story quietly and slowly but it sounds loud and fast. She whispers, you hear her shout. That is some powerful story and writing right there. The use of local words, local language which fits time and place was used to dramatic effect.

What a cast of characters to help Adunni gets her voice across. It’s complex, heart-breaking and heart-warming to read. Not having an idea what a louding voice was before I read this, I am so passionate about it now.

* spoiler alert ** What a great voice Adunni had!
It's probably wrong to say you enjoyed a book about rape,murder,child poverty,child brides,abuse and sexism,but I did.
Adunni was a great character,taking all that was thrown at her, yet still coming up smiling.
I have to admit,I preferred the first part of the book,The chapters where she studied for her exam didn't keep me quite so hooked.
Interesting too where the facts at the beginning of each chapter.
I don't think I'll be telling my bookish friends about this one,I don't want to risk the reading before I get the chance to buy them a copy.

A really excellent read - I was totally absorbed in Adunni’s story and was cheering her on every step of the way!

This is a truly amazing book; written as the voice of a young Nigerian girl, in her pidgin English. I thought it would be a tough read because of that but I soon got used to the language and finished the book in just over 24 hours. The story is one of a sad and tough life and relates the abuses that young girls and women have to suffer in a truly patriarchal and often corrupt society. I am grateful to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read an e-ARC in exchange for an honest review. I think this book deserves to win an award, it is an amazing achievement.

The broken English in this book is entirely manufactured making it impossible to read- there is no Nigerian, educated or otherwise, broken English or otherwise, that would speak like this. Especially not one that is Yoruba. The closest approximation of the language in this book is by people that move from francophone countries to Nigeria; this kind of dialect is closest to the way their pidgin is constructed, but still a long way off. It's all very confusing. (Won't review as didn't finish, these comments are strictly for the publisher)