BOOKS FROM GHANAThe Kaya Girl
by Mamle Wolo
Tags:
Set in Ghana
Female author
Description:
Writing with effortlessly engaging prose, Wolo showcases the interweaving layers of Ghanaian culture to create a prismatic, multifaceted world in which two young girls, against all odds, are able to find each other.
When Faiza, a Muslim migrant girl from northern Ghana, and Abena, a wealthy doctor’s daughter from the south, meet by chance in Accra’s largest market, where Faiza works as a porter or kaya girl, they strike up an unlikely and powerful friendship that transcends their social inequities and opens up new worlds to them both.
Set against a backdrop of class disparity in Ghana, The Kaya Girl has shades of The Kite Runner in its unlikely friendship, and of Slumdog Millionaire as Faiza’s life takes unlikely turns that propel her thrillingly forward. As, over the course of the novel, Abena awakens to the world outside her sheltered, privileged life, the novel explores a multitude of awakenings and the opportunities that lie beyond the breaking down of barriers. This is a gorgeously transporting work, offering vivid insight into two strikingly diverse young lives in Ghana.
Reviews:
(9 months ago) |
22 Feb, 2024
When we were fourteen years old most of us knew who our friends were and bristled against irrational race and class based expectations from our elders while we simultaneously meant to behave respectfully. I love this book because the details of the food, the cloth, the cultural misperceptions and business needs are so well interwoven in the tale. All the characters are people I want to meet!
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