I have long been a fan of Nikki May after reading Wahala and waiting with anticipation for her next book and it did not disappoint. I found this novel equally as charming and full of female friendship, food and rich in culture. I loved reading about England and Nigeria and seeing the two lives being pulled apart and put together. 100% would recommend this to everyone to read!

Many thanks to NetGalley and publishers for an ARC of Thus Motherless Land.

To begin my review, I will state that I really enjoy reading about cultures and countries other than my own, any this can up any rating for me, particularly when a description is done well.

The heartbreaking story of liv and funke/Kate brought me through every emotion. I enjoyed this book even though it was a hard read at times.

Highly recommend.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book #ThisMotherlessLand. It’s beautifully written.
A story about race, culture, belonging, mothers, loss and grief, sibling rivalry and identity.
It’s witty, moving and raw. It tugs at your heartstrings.
I loved the writing style as you feel connected to the characters and feel every emotion. The characters are brilliant and relatable with detailed descriptions of culture and food both in England and Nigeria.
I loved the cover too.
Overall, a gripping and poignant entertaining read. I definitely recommend.
With thanks to #NetGallery #RandomHouseUk #TransworldPublishers for an arc in exchange for a honest review.
Book publishes 18 July 2024.

Funke loves her life in Nigeria with her parents and brother. But when tragedy hits, she is sent to live with family in England, family she has never met. Her new family are cold, and they don't care much for her. All expect for Liv, her cousin, who takes her under her wing.

I can't begin to describe how much I adored this book! I read Nikki's debut Wahala when it was first released and loved it! But I still think 'This motherless land' is even better!! Nikki's writing style really connects you to the characters, and very much makes you feel every emotion!

I really felt for Funke the whole way through this book and felt myself rooting for her. She was a great character who went through so much in her life but still stayed exceptionally resilient and ambitious.

Synopsis: When Funke’s mother is killed in an accident in Lagos, she is sent to live with her maternal family in the English countryside. Here under the grey skies and with the strange food and culture that she does not fully understand Funke meets her cousin Liv who becomes her friend and protector as she slowly acclimatises. However as the cousins grow older choices made by previous generations and themselves drive them apart.

Review: I can’t say how much I enjoyed this loose retelling of Jane Austin’s Mansfield Park. Spanning two decades in Nigeria and England the stark contrasts between country and culture are more than apparent and Funke’s struggle to adapt to both pulls at your heartstrings. Book of many topics- mothers, sibling rivalry, culture , prejudice, loss and grief- it is above all about identity. What makes us who we are, where do we belong and the things we need to do to be accepted. The descriptions of Nigeria and its culture are vibrant and developed beyond just the food and culture to also class and corruption. Overall this is a thoroughly entertaining novel that on one hand I did not want to put down but also that I did not want to finish. I will remember Funke for a long time. So if you want an immersive page turner then you can’t go wrong with this novel and I can’t recommend it highly enough

Funke lives in Nigeria with her Nigerian father, English mother and younger brother Femi. After a tragic accident Funke's father decides to send her to live with her mother's family in Somerset. Funke has never had any contact with her mother's family as they disowned her after her marriage. Arriving in England she met with indifference and the only person who takes any interest in her is her cousin Liv. They become firm friends and Funke, now known as Kate, eventually settles down in her new home. Just as Funke is about to start Medical School, another tragic accident results in her being sent back to live in Nigeria. Poor Funke now has to readjust once again to living in a strange environment. Liv in the meantime is lurching from one dead end job to another and is confused as to why her cousin left so abruptly.
I enjoyed Nikki May's previous novel, Wahala and was delighted to receive an advanced copy of This Motherless Land. This too was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to reading more from this author.

I was offered this novel by the publishers because I'd enjoyed the author's "Wahala" a couple of years ago. It was touted as a de-colonising reworking of Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park," which was a bit of a shame, as although it had similar aspects at first (poor relation goes to live with her posh cousins on their country estate aged eight, the story is revisited every ten or so years), it was more of a (powerful) riff on that novel, offering a contrast between England and Nigeria in which Nigeria comes off better and as "home" while celebrating inheritance, interest in other cultures and community.

I wish I'd not wasted time searching for the characters in the Austen novel who weren't echoed in this novel: in fact, the two cousins, Funke and Liv, are friends from the start, an obvious difference. Anyway, I did enjoy this once I'd got over that slight issue: the plot is quite complicated and has some coincidences which I was fine to accept, and it was good to see both Funke and Liv grow into their power. Funke gets a raw deal in one respect, Liv in another, and we see them both broken then growing and can celebrate that growth. There was much musing on mothers and mother figures, including aunts and aunties.

Definitely a good read and I will continue to look out for more by this author.

Reviewed on my blog 29 July 2024 https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2024/07/29/two-book-reviews-mothers-friends-and-lovers/

Unfortunately life has got in the way and I haven’t been able to get to this book before publication day. Once I’ve read it I will come back here to update my review and leave my review on all relevant book retailers websites.

Funke was born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and English mother. In the wake of a tragedy, she is sent to England to live with her mum's family, despite them having disowned her when she married Funke's dad. It is a huge culture shock, plus she doesn't feel fully accepted by most of the family, except for her cousin Liv who being similar in age is quick to connect.

All is going great for a while, until they are hit by another tragic event and Funke is sent back to Nigeria. Feeling like she had finally settled in England, coming back to Nigeria feels like starting again and Funke really struggles to rebuild her life. We also follow Liv back in England as she tries to rebuild her life without Funke around.

I really enjoyed this. Following Funke and Liv after the tragic event that separates them as they both try to put their lives back together, it shows how no matter your differences, there is always some way to make a strong connection with other people, despite external pressures. They are very different characters, but also very likeable and it was great to see their relationship develop in this beautifully written, engaging story.

Having absolutely loved May’s previous book, Wahala, I was really looking forward to this, billed as a retelling of Mansfield Park, and it proved to be another fabulous read thanks to May’s ability to bring people and places to life in glorious technicolour whilst also tackling some thought-provoking issues around belonging and cultural differences.

It is the story of Funke, born in Nigeria to a Nigerian father and an English mother. Her mother was disowned by her family when she chose to marry a Nigerian - despite never having met that side of the family, when tragedy strikes, Funke is sent to England to live with them. A somewhat dysfunctional family, the only person happy to have her there is her cousin Liv and as Funke strives to fit into an unfamiliar and often hostile environment they form a strong bond - until a catastrophic event sees Funke sent back to Nigeria where once again she must battle against feeling like an outsider and rebuild her life. Meanwhile Liv also faces her own battles with her complicated family and her life begins to spiral out of control.

It is a story of the human need to belong and as such it tugs at your heart as you feel for both Funke and Liv as they each try to come to terms with their past and move forward in their very different but intertwined lives - but there is so much hopefulness too. May writes from personal experience about the challenges of straddling two different cultures and captures it all so well - beautifully written and utterly engaging, May has knocked it out of the park once again!

I adored Nikki Mary's debut novel, Wahala a couple of years ago, so I was thrilled to be invited to read her new book, This Motherless Land. Thank you Random House UK for the ARC.

Funke has a happy life in Nigeria with her parents and younger brother. But when tradegy strikes she is sent to England to live with her mother's family.

Although this book deals with some difficult themes, the author dealt with them well and I found it a pleasure to read. I loved the descriptions of life in Nigeria, which was vibrant and full of energy. It was interesting seeing the UK through the eyes of young Funke. In contrast to Nigeria the UK appeared dull and grey.

I really enjoyed how the relationship evolved between cousins, Liv and Funke. They developed a beautiful friendship that transcends cultural differences and family troubles. This is a captivating but emotional story that pulled on my heart strings throughout.

Funke loses her mother and finds herself living in Somerset. She is young, and so is her cousin Liv - the two sort of become friends. Beautifully and fairly told. the first part is 4.5/5. The prose is easy-to-follow. Funke experiences racism, discrimination and more grief.
Concept and themes 5/5 (the multicultural aspects, the authenticity, how the important themes are woven into the plot)
Characterisation and plot 4/5 (the twists and the resolution 3.5/5)
Prose 4/5

Overall, 4/5

I am eager to read more by this author and on similar themes.

Absolutely brilliant.
Primary age Funke lives in Nigeria in the 1970's with her professor Nigerian father and white English teacher mother and brother Femi. Funke is growing up in a culture where male children are considered more important and where there is a strong cultural significance with Christianity but if you're Muslim, interfaith marriages are frowned upon (and probably vice versa) and if you're white or of mixed race, you are open to name calling and not being accepted fully into the culture. That is just he way it is and if you know no different then what does it matter. Funke however, has been told of stories of her mother's former life in in England and how different it all is.
Funke is involved in a car accident with her mother and brother and is the only survivor of the accident. Her father does not cope and her paternal grandmother is simply cruel, so it is decided that Funke should move to England to live with her grandparents, aunt and cousins.
Funke doesn't want to leave all she has ever known and arrives to live with strangers to live in an attic room with an aunt who hates Femi because she is the daughter of her sister who she disked for marrying a black man and because of the colour of her skin. She has a male cousin who is nothing short of a bully to Funk and being a boy who is more highly thought of than his sister Liv. Liv thankfully, is warm to Funke and helps her settle into the new culture of England such as food, baths, the weather and light evenings. As unwelcome as she is made to feel, Funke feels that by fitting in, she will be more accepted and goes as far to leave her name Funke behind instead going by Katherine or Kate. The years pass and the disproportionate treatment by virtue of the colour of her skin is relentless but despite everything - Kate flourishes. Kate takes the opportunity to discover the land where her dead mother was from and tried to find her in hidden corners being bereft of a mother whilst growing up in a family that can be described at best mildly negligent and at worst racist. Liv however, desperate to go in another direction, gets into trouble being blackmailed into handing over money that she can't afford and when Kate refuses to bail her out, Liv plays a nasty trick on Kate. An incident happens which culminates in Kate going back to Nigeria. In Nigeria, she finds her mother on every corner.
There's an element of will they won't they and frustrating missed opportunities that created a page turner where I felt going to work was getting in the way of reading this book to find out what happens.
The two female protagonists are very likeable but very different, Funke (Kate) is bereft from her loving mother and moved to strangers who live in a completely different culture. Despite this she learns to adapt and flourish. Liv on the other hand is privileged in comparison to Funke (Kate) to the point she is unfairly favoured but like Funke, does not have a mother figure even though she is very much alive. They are similar in that the nearest they have to a mother figure is their grandmother. Their as their lives mature, they again differ with Funke (Kate) excelling academically and Liv spiralling out of control. Their love and support for one another is equal in every way.
This is a contemporary book of grief, racism, rejection, misogyny, culture, family love and romantic love and multicultural interest.

With thanks to #NetGalley, Random House UK, Transworld Publishers for this ARC.

Lagos. In 1978, 9-year-old Funke’s world is torn apart when her mother and younger brother die in a car crash, and she survives unscathed. Branded a’red witch’ by her paternal grandmother, Funke is sent away to England to live with her mother’s relatives: aunt Margot and her two children, Dominic and Liv, and her grandparents.
The only person to truly welcome Funke is Liv, who is a year older and very excited to have a new cousin onboard. The rest of the family’s reception varies: her grandparents treat her with insipidity, but Dominic and Margot, especially Aunt Margot, treat Funke with great hostility.

Funke’s middle name is Katherine, so the family decides to call her Kate as she is now in England. Everything feels new: the climate, the food, the customs, and the new family ways.

From then on, Funke’s/ Kate’s life will never be the same again.

How I adored this story! Funke, a gentle and good character, endured appalling treatment

Funke was such a gentle and good character who was treated appallingly by her family, even by Liv. I was saddened to read how the women’s relationship changed when they were teenagers.

At the same time, I was glad that, over the course of time, the relationship between her and her grandparents grew to be a strong one. They doted on Funke, and that was lovely to read.

Funke didn’t know where she belonged: was it Nigeria, or was it England? She thought Nigeria was her home, and then aged nine, she had to live in England. Then, when she was a teenager, she was sent back to Nigeria and had to familiarise herself with her native country again. I think everyone would have been confused!

There were times when I was reading this book that I felt absolute outrage and disgust (mainly aimed at Margot), but there were times of happiness and love.

It’s such a beautifully written story, and it will break your heart many times.

Many thanks to Doubleday for approving my NetGalley request to read and review this title.

A sublime and complex tale of truth and love

The marketing tells you that it's a de-colonial retelling of Mansfield Park, which it is, and masterfully done; but it's so much more. In May's second novel, the worlds of Lagos and Somerset are brilliantly recreated, the detail smoking off the page and dragging you into the lives of Funke and Liv, cousins from two different families who find each other, lose each other and find each other again. It's love, not romantic love, but sisterly love, true love; and so brilliantly done that you don't care that the end must be a reckoning but how Funke and Liv get there, through their heartaches, the wrong turns, all the twists and disappointments, the dreams and the victories, that's what drives the book. You fall in love with them both, as Austen makes you, and you suffer with them and you crow with them.

A full five stars!

Nikki May has quickly come to be an auto-buy author for me. I loved Wahala and I thoroughly enjoyed This Motherless Land too. I have never read Mansfield Park so I think, not having something to 'compate' against allowed me to enjoy the novel at face value. I loved the attention paid to all of the characters, they were all complete and I was invested in the lives of Liv and Funke and how they would grow into adults and If they would ever find each other again. I'd definitely reccomend this read to others and will continue to bang the drum for Nikki's writing as she is a fabulous author.

OMG I just loved this book. I devoured it in less than a day (my family went without food and my husband thought I wasn’t talking to him!) but it had me gripped from the beginning. The story revolves around Funke/Kate whose mother died when she was nine years old and she was sent to live with her mother’s family in England. Having a heritage of a Nigerian father and an English mother adds to the feeling of not belonging - but then there was Liv, the exuberant friendly English cousin who opened her arms and her heart to the motherless Funke/Kate. I’m not going to delve into the story except to say that the characters in this book were so well described that I felt I knew them. The writing is flowing but also empathetic to situations. I’m definitely looking forward to reading more from Nikki May.

Funke is forced from her happy life in Nigeria to cold England after a tragedy. Her family in England don't want her there except cousin Liv who goes out of her way to be a friend. They grow close but over the years its torn apart by jealousy, greed and misunderstanding. Can things ever work out.

Wow this was so good. Its a retelling of Mansfield park which I have yet to read so was able to appreciate it for what it was rather than its link to the original. The story takes us from the past to the present and from England to Nigeria which just adds so much depth to the story. The plot was easy to follow and very well written. The details and emotions were so on point. I found the differing descriptions of both locations so fascinating. Liv and Funke are each amazing in their own right and I enjoyed their journeys. The ending was perfect, ending the story just how it should. A brilliant read,

Another thoroughly enjoyable and immensely readable book from Nikki May. This Motherless Land segues between a bright, warm, vibrant Nigeria and a contrastingly dull England, but for Funke/Kate, the problems are the same wherever she goes: she is unwanted and struggles to feel she fits in or belongs. The story begins with heartbreak and from there on Funke's life only gets harder as she is uprooted from all she knows, whisked to stargers in England, and forced to reinvent herself. After some years, the reverse: She must uproot again and renistate herself in a Nigeria she no longer knows. The story of her separation from her cousin almost veers into cliche, but I dodn't think the reader would have wanted it any other way - despite some predictibilty of storyline, the characters and settings keep the reader invested in Funke's outcome and I was rooting for her all the way to the end. Overall, I would have liked a lot more description and immersion into the settings, rather than at times feeling a little like I was on the outside watching from afar. Nonetheless, I really enjoyed the story and was sorry when I turned the final pages.

I was asked to review this book by NetGalley and loved this book

Story of Funke and her Nigerian life is upturned and has to go and live with her mothers English family ( and a mansion that has seen better days)

Her Aunt is cold towards her whilst her counsin Liv gives her kindness. The story continues with Funke settling into life in England and getting a place at medical school to be then sent back!

This is story of two women who need to work through a past of hurt.

Published today (July 18th 2024)

Recommended read.