This Motherless Land

A Novel

De: Nikki May

Narrado por: Weruche Opia, Florence Howard

From the acclaimed author of Wahala, a “vibrant” (Charmaine Wilkerson) decolonial retelling of Mansfield Park, exploring identity, culture, race, and love.

Quiet Funke is happy in Nigeria. She loves her art teacher mother, her professor father, and even her annoying little brother (most of the time). But when tragedy strikes, she’s sent to England, a place she knows only from her mother’s stories. To her dismay, she finds the much-lauded estate dilapidated, the food tasteless, the weather grey. Worse still, her mother’s family are cold and distant. With one exception: her cousin Liv.

Free-spirited Liv has always wanted to break free of her joyless family. She becomes fiercely protective of her little cousin, and her warmth and kindness give Funke a place to heal. The two girls grow into adulthood the closest of friends.

But the choices their mothers made haunt Funke and Liv and when a second tragedy occurs their friendship is torn apart. Against the long shadow of their shared family history, each woman will struggle to chart a path forward, separated by country, misunderstanding, and ambition.

Moving between Somerset and Lagos over the course of two decades, This Motherless Land is a sweeping examination of identity, culture, race, and love that asks how we find belonging and whether a family’s generational wrongs can be righted.

©2024 Nikki May (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

CAPTIVATING!

Telling from both girls’ points of view was brilliant. Moving story and wonderful twists and turns!

The performance of accents was sublime! Audiobook ftw.

The performance of west African accents can ruin a book or it can absolutely make the audiobook a superior experience. This work is beautiful example of the latter. The writing and story are only highlighted by this transcendent reading. Oh, and if it helps to persuade you to get this audiobook, I’m Ghanaian :) Not Nigerian but close enough ;)

Best Ever

It’s impossible to list everything I loved because I loved it all! My only problem was understanding the strong accents by the “lessor” characters. However, that did not take away from the experience.

Nikki May Does It Again

I absolutely loved Wahala by Nikki May, so I was very excited to read her next work. This book didn’t disappoint. Admittedly, it was slow for me at first, and I found myself not as invested as I would’ve liked. But by the middle, I was hooked and couldn’t wait to find out what was next for Liv & Funke. Once again, I can’t wait to read what Nikki May does next.

Expertly Woven Novel

A fast paced story of family and love and distance and connection and culture. Well narrated.

She did it again!

I couldn't imagine liking this more than her first novel but I do. The description doesn't convey the beauty of this book. Nikki May is an amazing storyteller. Also that the voice acting was a fantastic tapestry of accents. I hope this author writes many more novels!

5 Stars

I absolutely loved this book. It was a great story line and the readers were wonderful.

Beautiful saga

Loved the voices, loved the story, loved the ending. Story difficult at times. Highly recommend.

Wonderful storytelling

Strong character development, great plot development. Loved learning more about Nigerian culture, and seeing things from an alternative perspective.

Love the story

Love the readers voices, beautifully done. Their tone added so much to each character. So many emotions throughout this story