This is a tale of heartache. The author is a great storyteller with a unique writing style. The author tackles some sensitive topics with such compassion

I love how this story immersed the reader into the Igbo and Nigerian culture as we see the transition of old and new culture. We also get to see how World War II affects the people of Nigeria and how it affects their lifestyle. There were alot of thought provoking moments on what it is like to be a woman and mother in Nigeria. It touches on the hardships and the burdening demands that women face, especially in a patriarchal society.

I absolutely love this and highly recommend! Thank you Netgalley and Penguin Press UK for the arc.

It took me a while to fully connect with Buchi Emecheta’s novel but once I did I couldn’t put it down. It marks a move away from her earlier semi-autobiographical work, charting instead the rapid shifts taking place in Nigerian society during the first half of the twentieth century, probing their devastating consequences for many Nigerian women, particularly wives and mothers. Emecheta tells her story through the experiences of Nnu Ego, an Ibo (Igbo) woman born in the age of “the white man” who’s forced to leave her rural home to marry a man she’s never met. Nnu winds up in Lagos, a British colony where her family are dependent for their livelihood on the whims of their colonisers. Brought up to believe that motherhood’s the highest honour women can hope for, Nnu pins her hope on having children who'll be the pride of her old age, but as time passes her society changes beyond recognition and her dream for her future fade away.

It's a meticulously detailed, searing piece, first published in 1979 it’s also an excellent example of emerging Black feminist writing that both affirmed and fiercely challenged the assumptions of mainstream, white feminism. Through the small tragedies faced by her creation Nnu, Emecheta reflects on questions of colonialism, patriarchy and generational strife, and what it might feel like to be a woman whose values and traditions are slowly being destroyed. Emecheta’s narrative’s also a fascinating exploration of the tension between Western individualism and societies in which connection and community were once key to survival. A tension that, for Nnu, results in everything falling apart, leaving her to deal with profound loss, the loss of familial networks through which women like her gained their sense of worth and belonging, the loss of rituals of motherhood and mourning that once rooted her identity and sustained her through harsh times.

Emecheta’s a great storyteller with a disarmingly direct style. She draws extensively on Nigerian oral traditions, and carefully links her narrative to earlier work by African women like Flora Nwapa whose novel Efuru provided Emecheta with her deeply ironic title. One of the most acclaimed Black writers of her era, Emecheta was included on Granta’s list of best British novelists and features on the BBC’s list of women who changed the world, yet her writing is comparatively – unjustly - neglected, I hope the continuing republication of her work by Penguin opens up the wider audience she richly deserves.

This novel tells the life story of Nnu Ego, favourite daughter of a powerful Ibo man. Set mostly in the 1930-40s, it shows the hard life of a woman in Nigeria. The expectations on wives to have sons, the hard work to provide for the family, dealing with other wives and lots of other day to day issues. All this is set against the backdrop of colonialism and the changing society as education becomes more important, as moving to Lagos and working for white people affects traditional values and beliefs. World war 2 also has a major impact as Nnu’s husband is sent off to war. The writing drew me into the story and I found it an enjoyable and moving read.

A powerfully evocative portrait of the life of an Igbo woman in Nigeria from the 1930s to the 1950s, following her daily existence as she struggles with poverty, motherhood, an often absent and frequently unsatisfactory husband and the mores and customs of her society. It’s an ambition book, which covers a wide range of themes – from colonialism to the beginnings of talk of independence - but we see all these themes through Nnu Ego’s eyes and experiences, giving a personal touch to abstract issues, and thus enabling the reader (this reader, at least) to identify more closely with the role of a woman in a traditional society and the expectations that society places on her. I found it a fascinating and authentic insight into Nigerian life at that period in history and understand completely why the book is considered a classic of African literature.

“The Joys of Motherhood” is a touching, honest, devastating novel. In a captivating prose, it branches off a tender praise to the motherly figure, this woman, this creature who giving off all herself for the good of her offspring. It’s about the maternal love in all its facets, about mothers and what’s like being a mother Ibo culture, in Nigeria. About being a mother all over the world. And how this figure change through history, how family relationships change, become something new, where women takes on new frames, other identities, where they get rights, among which the one of an epaulets education, and the promise to take care of daughters, as it was done with sons, with the same privileges, the same freedom, the same duties. Families change, transform, and so does the relationships between parents and children.
The author, Buchi Emecheta, narrates this transformation, this phenomenon which has changed the semantics of the concept of family of this Century, with great ability and almost with educational vigour.
Indeed, according to some demographic theories, one of the reasons why the birth rate lowered is also the economic relations between parents and their offspring. I’ll be clearer: the high birth rate before the 20th Century was not only due to an as high infant morality rate, but also because children represented an additional income. Exactly as Nnaife scolded, and as Nnu Ego wished. In the last Century, raising children has became more and more expensive, because parents have to be a source of income for the offspring, not the contrary, so less children are made. The same happened in the novel, where parents support economically children beyond the legal age.
“The Joys of Motherhood” tells of a changing family, of relationships intertwining between each other and falling apart, of joys and pains of being a mother. This novel is also a love letter to moms, who, despite everything, are no scared to make sacrifices for their children. Because the joy of motherhood is the joy of the offspring.

I'd like to thank Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an early copy of this book in return for an honest review.

The story follows Nnu Ego, from her birth into a prominent rural family in Ibuza (in Nigeria), through her life's tribulations and many births, to her death. This is not a book about Nigeria's participation in the 2nd World War, nor is it a story about Nigerian independence, but these (and other events) are reflected in the deep cultural and economic shifts that happen throughout the story. This is most of all a story of women and what it meant to be a woman in traditional societies - what defined womanhood, what defined happiness, and what defined self realisation (or lack thereof).

It is both an extremely well executed book, and an important one. I am flabbergasted that I've not encountered this book to date! I loved and respected so many things in it. First and foremost, it is well written - the characters are vivid and energetic, evolve and develop throughout the story, and have consistent backstories and personalities.

Second, the narrative and its meshing with the evoluition of Nigeria as a nation and as a culture is flawless. The interplay between individual fates and the cultures these individual reside in was superbly executed. Reminds me of Rohinton Mistry in many ways.

Third, the universal message of this book is persistent and powerful. At its core, this if a feminist novel about the importance of progress and women's self realisation. It is also a story that asks the questions - how important is motherhood for womanhood, how early days of child-rearing affects gender stereotypes. Most of all it's a story of female perseverance, stamina, strength, and drive. Few families, in my view, cannot point to a female matriarch that does not remind one, at least a little, of Nnu Ego.

Finally, this is not a book that judges its characters, society, or politics. It's, in some ways, journalistic in its approach. There is no evil here. People are who they are due, in large part, to their circumstances. And then they try their best. Few people break the rules defined for them early in life. And while it helps progress, it also causes personal and societal upheaval.

This is a book that should be read by everyone. It should be part of school curricula, and taught to teenagers. This is a masterpiece.